WORK…not always a four letter word!

(From a guest contributor…A daddy of Two Girls.)

Yep, while technically a four-letter word, it is also figurative.  It is one of those words we consider as dirty as all those words that earned us a liquid soap mouthwash as a child.  But not everyone considers work and the concept behind it to be all bad.  

Anyone who knows Big Sis is fully aware of the fact that she tends to march to the beat of her own little pink, sparkly drum.   She loves ballet, princesses, shoes (lots of girly shoes!) and is currently totally hooked on the Glee soundtrack.  Not the typically sports fan mind you, much like her Mamma, though they watch with Daddy to make him happy!

Considering the world this wonderful little girl lives in, the thought of attending a hot, humid soccer practice on a Saturday morning wouldn’t seem to be high on her priority list.  Heck, it’s not high on my list of things I’d love to do on a weekend either, and I really like what I do for a living.  But few things excite this little princess more than a Saturday morning soccer practice with Daddy.  We load up the car with snacks, juice boxes, a few Polly Pockets and a coloring book for good measure and off we go!

And, of course, as is always the case with Big Sis, the outfit is of the utmost importance!  She has long had a ‘work uniform’ consisting of blue wind pants and an official school t-shirt with the Sesame Street characters on it.  This year she has finally outgrown the original uniform but, never fear, Mamma, who is always a few steps ahead of us, had a brand new Addidas wind suit ready to go for this fall’s season.  This kid doesn’t go anywhere without wearing the ‘right’ clothes and work with Daddy just wouldn’t be the same without looking the part! 

She spends pre-practice treatments coloring, hugging Daddy (loves the reaction from the girls’ soccer players!) and watching me tape ankles, run rehab programs and stretching out sore muscles in preparation for a two hour workout session.  The guaranteed highlight of the day is the short ride across campus to the soccer facility on the ‘Gator tractor’ sitting on one of my student athletic trainer’s laps.  She spends most of the ride raising her arms and squealing with joy.  Once at practice we spend the next couple of hours jumping over cones, kicking a ball around, scoring treats from Coach B and trying to spend a few precious minutes with her first sports hero Patrice. 

Gabrielle and her sports-hero, Patrice (soccer player)

While all of the girls on the team, coaches and student athletic trainers find her to be absolutely precious and the cutest little thing they’ve ever seen she tends to shy away from the compliments and clings to Daddy’s leg.  But over the past three years my little girl has developed quite a bond with one particular athlete--Patrice.  She happily colors pictures for her, cheers every time she runs bye and has no problem wandering down the bench during games to sit down with her much older buddy while I attend to injured athletes during games.  During baseball season when Big Sis comes down and word gets out that she is on campus it’s not surprising to find the two of them sitting in my office watching a Disney movie on my computer. This is her first little role model, outside of mom and dad, and I couldn’t be happier with her choice. 

This little princess really is the talk of the team during her trips to work with me.  All the girls ask to take her home, are amused that Daddy can do (and redo—several times) her pig tails and "ballerina buns," and do a wonderful job of making her feel at home.  Two weeks ago as we left practice quickly to get to Nutcracker ballet tryouts Big Sis was given quite a send off and cheers of ‘good luck’ on the way to her audition.  She took in the adoration like a seasoned celebrity and casually waved goodbye to her much older fan club.  Of course Daddy was asked about the tryouts and if she got her part many times on Monday!

So that’s a typical Saturday at work for the two of us.  We enjoy a few juice boxes, watch some soccer and generally have a ball doing something that few find to be enjoyable, especially on a Saturday, --we go to work!

Playing with her animals at Daddy's desk

First Piggytails for Little Sis

So most of my blogs thus far have been about Big Sis because, let's face it, once kiddos can talk it is easier to tell stories about them. But that isn't to take away from the fact that Little Sis is a character with huge personality of her own. She is very independent and spunky, and has the lifelong mission to bring this big house tumbling down!

Her new favorite trick is with the fall weather approaching and windows open, she knows how to pop the screens out and tries to then herself tumble out. I have a feeling we may see many a stitches and trips to the ER with her. I hope I'm wrong.

She turned 20 months on Saturday (can you believe it)??? It seemed like a right of passage for her to have her first set of piggy tails to celebrate the occasion. She calls ponytails "pretties" since Thad always tells her "you're pretty" after I do her hair. Her "pretties" always stay in tact perfectly since the "hair gel" she chooses to use consists of peanut butter, banana goo, grilled cheese grease, and whatever else is in her grubby little hands during meal time. Each and every meal she takes those grubby little hands and rubs her ponytail down with them.

I love this little diva. Can't wait to see her personality unfold even more. We have our hands full!

Before the transformation

Couldn't get her to put "Snuggles" down for this one.

Ahhh, piggies at last

 

A Walk with Annie, Sandy, Daddy Warbucks and "Baby" Warbucks

Those of you who know Big Sister well, know she likes to pretend to be different animals, characters, and fairytale creatures most of the time. It usually is a surprise who she pretends to be from one day to the next. I want to clarify she knows clearly these are made up and has no form of multiple personality disorder. Honestly, when she is "in character" she behaves a lot better! :)

Well tonight she found her Annie locket in her jewelry box (like little orphan Annie) and you could see the idea as it was taking place....the lightbulb went off in her head and before the words could come out, she was rummaging through her closet, looking intently for the perfect outfit that Annie would wear. Out she came with her Christmas dress (red and black plaid) and a Christmas red sweater. She started assigning characters. "Mama, I'm Annie...Daddy you're Daddy Warbox (she can't quite seem to understand that it is Warbucks)...Summer is Sandy and Little Sis is....Baby Warbox!"

We decided it was a nice night for a walk so she had to hold Summer's leash, but of course called her "Sandy" the entire time which is very confusing to a dog. She wanted Sandy to "sit" and "wait" and all sorts of things and the poor dog was probably thinking "why me" the entire time. She started singing the "Dumb Dog, why are you following me" song from Annie but then remembered "we don't say that word" so we stopped singing that one.

Annie and Sandy. This isn't the best quality picture, but on the walk all we had was Thad's phone to take the picture. 

Big Sis didn't break character for the entire walk, using a certain accent/tone the entire time (her Annie voice) and acting in just the exact way Annie would act. The only time I could see her "real" personality come back is when we walked past a yard that the grass was dead (not a little dead...plain old dead) and she stops and says at the top of her lungs "Daddy this grass is BRRRRRRRROWN!" And yes, those people had their garage door open so I'm sure heard her say it:)

I wish I could have talked her into leaving the red sweater on and the sparkly black shoes on. It looked more Annie-ish but she was ready to be Big Sis again as soon as we got back home.

A Sweet Prayer

Last night, the girls and I were outside playing after dinner. Both girls were sitting on their little picnic table when I notice Big Sister is praying. She had her eyes closed, her head and hands bowed, and was whispering something, clearly not intended for me to hear.  Afterwards she said, “Mama, you want to know what prayer I just said”? I replied, “well sure, honey, if you want to share it.” She said “I prayed and sort of wished that God would let me go to Arizona to see my good friend Alaina. I also prayed that when we fly there in the airplane, we’ll see the moon and stars." As she's telling me this, my super-animated child has this big smile and huge, excited eyes like she was waiting for my response. I let her know I had a good feeling we'd be able to get to Arizona sometime this year.


This morning, as soon as she got out of bed, one of the first things she asked me was "when do we get to see Alaina and the moon and stars?" It was very sweet. I'm glad she has such a great memory of she and her buddy Alaina. Alaina was one of Big Sis' first friends as a baby, when we lived in AZ. They are four months apart in age (Big Sis is older) and her mom Brandi is a dear friend of mine. They flew out to Chicago about a year and a half ago (when I was about 8 months pregnant with Little Sis) and we had such a great time. Even though the weather was blustery cold (especially for AZ folk), we all loved riding in a horse drawn carriage and seeing the city's Christmas light-lined shops and windows. 

Big Sister's First Splinter

Well of all the "firsts" I didn't want to forget to write about this one. Big Sis got her first real splinter today and, as most things are with her, it was dramatic. She was outside helping me "dead head" the daylillies and pull out the dead "stick" things in them. We forgot to put her Dora gardening gloves on and she got a pretty deep and long splinter stuck under her skin. She screamed and screamed and kept saying "just let me wash my hands," thinking it could easily be rubbed off like marker, glue and the other common things that get "stuck" on her hands. She knew Daddy meant business when he came downstairs with the tweezers and a safety pin. It truly only took a minute but it was a dramatic minute with ear piercing screams.

I'm sure it hurt...I remember as a child HATING splinters. Everyone had wood decks then and it was very common to get them. She let me know after Daddy removed it that she never wanted to garden again. I told her that as long as she wore the Dora gloves she'd be fine. We'll see if my little nature girl gives up on the gardening over a lil old splinter. I hope not!

My final ride with Batman

When I learned Selena Gomez was going to be at Six Flags, I knew Big Sister would be super excited to go to her first concert. For those of you not familiar, Selena Gomez is a teenie-booper Disney singer/actress that little girls and tweens go ga-ga over. Quite honestly, she's a good little actress but cannot really hold a tune. At least "live" she sounded AWFUL. But, it was fun to go for all the hype.

I immediately knew who would be bold enough to go on this adventure with us....my friend Jill and her family. Just some background on Jill, I have nicknamed her "Disneyland" because every time you're around this gal, you can't help but have fun regardless of what you're doing or what you're thinking. She and her husband, Matt, are just very laid-back, easy-going people who know how to enjoy life and raise kids fairly stress free. They have three beautiful daughters who are the same ages as my girls, and we enjoy spending time with them. So me, Big Sister, Jill, Matt, two of their girls, and their 15-year-old cousin Jillian took a long, adventurous mini-van ride to St. Louis for the concert. We listened to Selena music most of the way up, taking a few breaks to watch some Disney princess movies.

After at least five dozen "are we there yets" from the girls, we arrived at destination Six Flags. Since the Selena concert wasn't until 4pm, we had a full day to ride on the rides, eat the food, and just chill. Did I mention it was at least 95 degrees that day? So yes, it was the wrong day indeed to go to Six Flags. On the bright side, the lines were extremely short all day since the smart people knew that a 95 degree day and Six Flags don't go together, especially when you add whiney 4 and 6-year-olds to the mix.

We started conquering Six Flags by going on the infamous Log Ride. Big Sis had never been to an amusement park (well outside of Disney but that's on a much different level) so was a bit nervous about the Log Ride at first but all the kids (and adults) loved it. After the Log Ride, Jill, Matt, and Jillian  decided to go on the Evil Kinevil rollercoaster and I happily offered to stay back with the kids. Even though I enjoy the "idea" of a rollercoaster--and I know the chances of falling out, the track breaking, or someone getting hurt are slim to none--my body does not handle motion well. So...remembering all too well the results of being dragged on rollercoasters as a teen with friends, at the local fair or at an amusement park, I decided to sit this one out. For me, it is sort of the same thought process many of us experienced in college. You know, the good ole "Is having one more drink really worth the hangover it will give me tomorrow morning?" I was thinking "Would trying this rollercoaster really be worth the risk of the severe vomiting at the end?" So...I stayed with the girls and we watched as the other adults went on the Evil Kinevil.

After the rest of the group was done with the rollercoaster, we headed down to the Tidal Wave ride to get some reprieve from the heat (water rides were our friends). As we're walking there, Jill and I were laughing about how we're the only other friends we have who will actually go on adventures like this and not think a thing of it. Jill brings up the good old Steve Martin classic movie, Parenthood, where the Granny gives the story about living live like you're on the rollercoaster, where you have a lot of highs and a lot of lows, but nothing in between. Basically, the jest of her story is to live life fully. Ironically, I too am a fan of that movie and have often reflected on that Granny's story myself. The rollercoaster is very symbolic. For me it is symbolic of living life to its fullest and "in the moment." It is also symbolic of youth. You know you're young at heart if you can still get on that rollercoaster.

We proceeded to ride the Tital Wave, which Big Sister did not enjoy. While the rest of us were laughing and having fun getting wet, Big Sis just thought the whole thing was too messy. She did not enjoy her sparkly pink skirt she wore "just for Selena" was drenched. And she couldn't seem to understand why the rest of us weren't upset about our clothes getting wet.

After a few more rides and a quick lunch of Papa John's pizza (which they had right there at Six Flags), Jill asks me if I want to ride on the Batman rollercoaster with her. I agreed I wanted to try it. So we left the three girls with Matt at the kiddy park while Jill, Jillian and I walked over to Batman.  As we're walking here is my inner voice...

You're young still, girl. You're not afraid of something as silly as a rollercoaster. You took that motion sickness pill Jill gave you a few hours ago. She swears up and down it is better than Dramamine. What is the worst that could happen...you feel dizzy?? Come on...don't be a wuss. Jill can handle it and she's a few years older than you. Seriously, are you really scared of a little ole' rollercoaster???


We get in line for Batman and I tell Jill and Jillian "I don't know if I want to do this." Jill reminds me it is 100% my decision there's no pressure from her to do this. But in my head, I knew I had to do this. I had to conquer Batman for my own self pride and my own ego. It was not a rollercoaster...it was living life to it's fullest. It was living in the moment. It was youth. And I'm not a quitter! I was not backing down. As we got closer, my the butterflies flapped harder. That little voice way in the back of my head started in again...

Actually, you will likely throw up. You always have thrown up on rollercoasters and you probably always will. You don't want to ruin the day so you don't see the Selena concert, which was the whole point of coming here on this blistering hot day. Plus, you have to be a responsible adult...you have a kid to take care of. And a long ride home with 3 girls. But you did take that motion sickness medication. Maybe that will make it so you don't feel a thing.


So I had told Jill and Jillian I was just going to step over to the other side and meet them when they were done.  It was their turn so Jill and Jillian sit in their rollercoaster seat and start pulling their seatbelt bar down when, alas, the new "spontaneous" me jumps into the seat next to Jill and starts pulling my bar down too. Jill looks over at me very surprised and says "Hey way to go, you can do it, this will be fun!" As soon as the rollercoaster-worker-kid finished buckling me in my prideful thoughts of "way to go spontaneous girl" quickly changed to "oh crap...what have I done! Get me out of this thing and quick. This is a huge mistake. Did I mention I just ate Papa John's pizza??? I will not live to see my 31st birthday for sure"


Then starts the 3-minute ride from hell. Jill is screaming words of encouragement like "kick your legs, you're free...how many other times can you feel like you're flying...isn't this fun?" I'm screaming back "I hate this, I hate this, I hate this, I'm gonna puke!" I was just hoping I'd wait to puke until the rollercoaster stopped so it didn't land on some poor soul under us.

When the ride stopped, it seemed like an eternity before the rollercoaster-worker kid released me from that God-awful seat. I rushed over to the nearest people-free area to begin the first of about 12 puke sessions. Jill was supportive the entire time, letting me know "it's okay, see don't you feel better now? You got it all out of your system." Only...I didn't feel better. I felt worse. It took us 20 minutes to walk all the way out of the ride area because I'd stop every two feet to puke again. I was reminded during this potentially weak moment, how rude and uncaring people can be. There were people who pointed and said things to me like "haaaaa!!! You should have known better. You're disgusting!!!" Goodness people, I am not drunk! I am disabled from that monster of a thing people refer to as a rollercoaster! I hope after you go on it the same thing happens to you, you jerks!

Jill was supportive the entire time...goodness it showed that she is really a friend through "thick and thin." She knew how yucky I felt. She'd say things like, as we walked through nasty puddles of muddy water "see, cool water, isn't that helping" and when we'd get a slight breeze "ahh, fresh air, isn't that better?" Poor Jillian, who had not met me prior to that day, was being as helpful as she could, while still keeping a pretty far distance so she didn't get vomited on. I don't blame her.

After about 45 minutes of me continuing to vomit, and at least 20 people stopping her asking if her friend was okay, Jill gets the Six Flags paramedic people to wheelchair me to their EMT area. One of the highlights of the day was the EMT people asking "so how did this happen, did you just not drink enough water, are you a diabetic, do you have the flu?" and my response being "No, none of the above....I am honestly *this* sick from riding Batman." For sure they had to be snickering underneath all that professionalism. I just knew they were. I would have been!

Fortunately, I recovered within an hour of resting and drinking water in the EMT booth and we rushed off so we didn't miss the 4pm Selena concert. But, we weren't in such a big hurry we didn't take the time for me to pose with Wonder Woman and Robbin on the way (I need to get that picture from Jill).

The Selena concert was fun but...Big Sis and I only made it about three songs in before she started getting a bit non-responsive and I could tell she was getting dehydrated from all the heat and not enough fluids. So I took her into an air conditioned area and we sipped lemonade. I was not going to risk another malfunction on this trip. I'd had more drama than I could handle for the day.

All in all, it was a fun day, with a super fun family. Jill chuckled as we walked to the car and said "well, we sure had some highs and lows on this trip" and I agreed.  I still think that Granny from Parenthood was right. The rollercoaster is the life philosophy to have. Life is full of ups and downs. If you play it safe all the time, you are usually safe, but not always fully alive. But it is a philosophy and that's it....the "rollercoaster ride" is life....not the Batman ride! The ONLY thing I proved that day was that rollercoasters still make me vomit....a lot. If that makes me "old"...so be it!

Posing by the Selena Gomez sign

The intriguing potty chair

Little Sister sure has been interested in the potty lately. And by "interested" I mean, interested in putting the potty on her head like a hat, interested in opening and shutting the potty lid, and interested in sticking her dollies, toys and other miscellaneous items in the potty. The funny part is when she sits on the potty she makes a "sssss" sound like she's peeing and grins from ear to ear and says "good girl" (which in Little Sis-ese sounds more like "goo gool"). Yesterday night in the bathtub she peed in the water (after sitting on her potty chair for 10 minutes with nothing). Right after you could see the water turning the dreaded yellow, she grinned and said "Mama, goo gool." She's got the ideas...just not put all together yet. 


She also likes to point to the different body parts when we name them. But when I mean "point to" she actually is sort of aggressive. When we say "eye" she will stab us in the eye with her fingers. When we say "nose" she shoves her finger up her own nose so far it looks painful. My favorite is "bebo" for belly button and "pretty" for hair. We realized a few weeks ago that she thought hair/ponytails were called "pretty" because every day after I'd pull her hair up into a ponytail Daddy would look at her and say "you're pretty."

1st Day of the Last Year of Preschool

Gabrielle was like a veteran yesterday, preparing for her first day of her last year of preschool. She knew not to argue with Mama when I asked her to pose by the picture table, proudly wearing her backpack. This year though, Sissy was in the picture with her. And Sissy had to wear a backpack too, of course.



Dropping she and her buddy, Ben, off at school went through without a hitch. Both hung their bags right next to one another's and went to say hi to their teachers. They seemed like pros! I try not to make a "big production" out of goodbyes, because that just gives her the idea she has a choice in the matter. So a quick kiss and "hope you have a great first day honey" will do. Her response was "Mama, I feel the butterflies fluttering in my tummy." I assured her that was normal and she'd make lot of friends that day because she's a sweetie. That was that...I left my pumpkin and already couldn't wait to hear the stories from her adventures afterward.

After school, she said she had fun but "two things were not good Mama." When I asked her what they were she responded with, "first of all, the boys on the playground pretended to be monsters and chased me." I told her that is what little boys do and it is their job. She let me know "they were meanies." Classic Junie B. Jones answer. The second thing that was "not good" I would have never guessed. "Mama, when we all took a potty break, I choose a potty without toilet paper and so I had to dribble all over and not even wipe." I had to explain to her that you just ask the kid in the stall next to you to kindly hand over some TP but that was just confusing to her. "Mama, my arms are not long and could never reach under so I'd still have to dribble if I got off the potty." As my mother in law would say, "that girl, she's a thinker!"

Love Affair

So, just like when you first start dating someone new (which that hasn't happened to me in about, well, 13 years), I am in a "new love" phase with my friend, Mr. Blog. Thad is a little jealous that I've been spending so much time getting to know Mr. Blog, but he will be beautiful when I'm finished! Thanks to a friend tonight I think I got the background issues straightened out and had a crash course on how to add pictures, etc.

Long gone are my blissfully ignorant 20s.

It seems like in my 20s I was blissfully ignorant. By that, I mean, there was so much I didn’t know or understand, but I didn’t realize it or maybe just simply didn’t care! During my 20s, I liked the freedom of “not knowing completely what I wanted to be when I grew up” because it meant I could sample a little bit of everything.

When I initially worked on this post, it ended up being about ten pages long. Since the initial intent and idea behind this piece was not to bore everyone into a coma, I decided to pair it down a bit. Trust me, be glad I did. So here I go with a flashback from my 20s (it ended up being sort of Marley and Me style).

Age 20-22:
College. Grades. Studying. Homework. Sorority. Choir. Internships. Networking. Friends. Parties. Honors Society. Part-time Job. Resumes. Interviews. Stress-and-excitement rolled into one. Engaged to high school sweetheart. Daydreaming of wedding plans. Planning wedding. Getting married. Cancun honeymoon. Relocating to Arizona. Newlyweds. Dirt poor. Lots of tuna noodle casseroles. Weekend hiking adventures. Sedona. Camelback Mountain. Happy. Content. Simple.

Age 22-24:
Hubby graduating from grad school. Missing family back home. First “real” jobs. Moving apartments. Meeting new friends. Climbing the ladder. Adopting a puppy. Spoiling the puppy rotten. Church involvement. Working on my master’s degree. Dog parks with the pup. Obedience training with the pup. Agility with the pup. Lots of free time.  Into home décor. Into scrapbooking.

Age 24-26:
House hunting. Buying a house. Painting every room of the house. Repainting several rooms of the house. House décor. Packing. Moving. Settling in. Housewarming party. Subdivision. Walks. Neighbor friends. Cookouts. Landscaping project involving sprinkler installation. Doggy door. Goosebumps every time we pulled into the driveway because that little house was really ours. Repainting again. The sudden loss of my husband's wonderful father. Wind knocked out of us. Being with my husband through such a very difficult time. Wanting to take his sadness away but knowing I couldn't. The quest to have a baby. Fertility struggles. Two pink lines. Sheer joy. Morning sickness for five months. Wearing maternity clothes before I was showing. Student teaching with morning sickness. Alaskan cruise with morning sickness. A roadtrip to a friend's wedding in Vegas with morning sickness. Midnight cravings for blueberry muffins. Growing belly. Decorating nursery. Baby showers. Graduating with a Master’s in Education. New baby born 3 weeks early. Utter amazement. “Babymoon” phase where sleepless nights couldn’t bring me down. Lots of relatives visiting. Exhaustion. Painful breastfeeding. Colicky baby. Reflux. Non-stop screaming.  Marriage taking a backseat. Questioning why I wanted a baby so bad. Knew pediatrician by first name. First grins. First laugh. Portrait Innovations. Went back to work. Researching child care. Ear tubes. Sleep at last. Happy baby. Happy family. Bonded with beautiful child. Knew all the work was worth it.

Age 26-28:
Baby’s first steps. Baby’s first words. Outgrew little house. Bought new, larger, really-couldn’t-afford house. Repainted whole house. All new furniture. Went to town on the decorating. Hubby starting his own company. I took my first teaching job. Photocopying. Lamination. Preparing for my first classroom. Creativity. Garage sale books. First day of school. Sheer fear and excitement. Big hugs and smiles. Lightbulb moments. Going home with funny stories everyday. An audience that always forgives when you need improvement. Learning as much from 9 and 10 year olds as they did from me (probably more). Husband getting a job offer to move us back to the Midwest. Having to leave 1st teaching job after the first quarter. Sadness and excitement. Lots of tears between class of kiddos and me. Anticipation to finally raise our daughter near grandparents. Fear of not being able to sell new home with declining economy. Fear of ever being able to afford a new one.  Huge move. Penske truck. Scratches on new furniture. Moving into my mom’s house. Bugging our realtor every day to see if our AZ house sold. Family events. Family holidays. Daughter getting to know her relatives. Kindermusik. Trips to Chicago with cousin and sister. Seeing daughter's face light up when she saw snow for the first time. Girl’s nights. Catching up with friends from high school. Job offer to work from home. House in AZ sold! Getting to house hunt.

Age 28-30
Buying a house in IL. Packing. Moving. Settling in. Realizing I was pregnant after I moved all the heavy boxes and had a martini night with girlfriends. Daughter starts preschool. Growing belly. It’s a girl (again)! Doctor’s appointments.  First ballet class. Mom’s groups. Hosting family holidays. Baby shower "sprinkle". Deciding on a name. Water breaking 3 weeks early after a night of laughing so hard we almost peed at The Midnight Swinger who performed at the local comedy club. Birthing another beautiful baby girl. Excitement. Daughter met her baby sister. Feeling very warm and fuzzy. Maternity leave. More breastfeeding. More colicky. More ear infections. More strain on marriage. Sleepless nights. Exhaustion. Why us? Can you really have two colicky babies?  First smiles. First laughs. Ear tubes for baby at 8 months. 2nd set of ear tubes for Big Sister. Ahhh, sleep at last.  First dance recital for Big Sister. Baby dedication. First Christmas as a family of four. Sweet giggles of two little girls.

This blog will be continued as I write about my much more mature life discoveries and philosophy since turning 30 last December. By mature, meaning I’ve realized that with all this hustle and bustle…I have left few margins to actually live. But there’s still a lot of life left in me so here I go! Afterall, according to Oprah, 30 is the new 20 but, you know what, I don't even need it to be! 30 can be the new 30...I'm quite excited for the next 10 years in this phase.

A-Lee the Rock Star

Any of you who know Big Sister, would willingly agree she is a drama queen to the inth degree. Over the course of the past few months, she has developed an alter ego that to her is very "real." Her name is A-Lee (not to be confused with Allie...it is a long "a" here people). A-Lee is a "rockstar" like Hannah Montana or Selena Gomez. Typically when A-Lee emerges I don't know it has happened at first until Big Sister will huff and sigh "urrr....I am not Big Sister, I am A-LEE and I'm a rock star."

Mimi was over to go on a walk with us tonight, and when it was brought up she said she'd never heard of Big Sister transform into her alter ego. She thought it was funny. I told her to ask Big Sister who A-Lee was. Big Sister had decided on the walk she was "Kate, the daycare helper" and was pushing a baby doll in her dolly stroller. She sighed at Mimi and said "I am Kate right now so call me that. I have a baby I'm takin' care of here!"

Well sure enough as soon as Mimi went home and we got home from our walk, A-Lee decided to make her grand appearance. Big Sis announces "I am A-Lee and I'm a rock star and going to put on another performance. I'm very fashionable." Little Sis was her "audience" (along with Daddy and I) and we watched and listened as she belted out an A-Lee classic that goes a little something like this "oooo, it's hot in here. don't touch it....don't touch it. hot, hot, hot!!!"

If you laugh at her she will immediately turn back into Big Sister, melt down and scream "you're embarrassing me!!!" so we know to hold our giggles for later. I love kids with an imagination. Always have. Always will. It was kids like these that gave me mounds of entertainment during my very short-lived career as a teacher that pile so high I could likely write a book.

And my mom always tells me I had an imaginary friend named "Tracy" for many years of my childhood. I remember her well but didn't know until many years later that she was imaginary. Funny how "real" things are when you're a child. If only we could box that creativity up and save it for when we're adults, right?

Blogging slacker woman with some goals

So I really don’t understand why I update my blog so infrequently. I think since I write for a living I just want time away from the computer during my spare time. Anyhow, since it has been close to a year since any updates on the blog, I’ll start today. For sure there have been updates in our family…too many to probably remember at this point. So for tonight, I'll just reflect on some thoughts I've been mulling over.

It seems like I am undergoing a phase in life where I’m extremely “wiggly”. By this I mean…feeling like there is so much to learn and accomplish that I wanted to happen many years ago.  As the hubby i is relaxing and watches college football, I again realize that it would be a sort of considerate thing if I learned just a little bit about sports. I know I’ll never catch up with him in my understanding but since he works around and with sports for a living, the courteous thing to do would be to care about something he’s so deeply passionate about. So I stand here today and proclaim to the world…”I will learn more about sports this year!” And this, I’m afraid, includes not referring to the football center as the “hut, hut, hiker.”

In addition to sports, I think I may have missed every history class known to man. I have a few friends who are high school social studies teachers (Jess you know who you are) and I would for sure embarrass them with my lack of knowledge. If any of my old history teachers are out there…how did I get straight A’s in high school and college? Please tell me? Here is an example of my lack of history knowledge. My 4-year-old daughter loves The Sound of Music and we’ve watched it several times together. We love to sing along and she even has a dress (from Walmart) she calls “the dress the governess made from curtains”. We twirl around the house and sing and dance.  I was talking to a friend the other day about how we love that movie and she asks me if I knew there was a “real” Von Trampp family and they too escaped the Nazi regime. I seriously looked at her and said “no, that isn’t what the movie is about. There is not anything about escaping the Nazis in that movie.” I guess in the midst of all the singing, dancing, and dressing up, I sort of missed the entire focus of the movie! Needless to say the people who were listening in on my friend and I’s conversation got quite the chuckle!

Fortunately these are two areas, sports and history, the hubby is very well versed in. When we have date nights and never have anything to talk about other than how many words the baby can say or the next week’s schedule, I think we should open up some totally new topics. There is for sure a whole world of knowledge out there! I just wish I was a little younger than I am and showing interest…I feel like I’ve missed out a bit. And I’m sure the hubby would appreciate me showing an interest in what he does for a living as well!