Thursday, January 5, 2012

Dear Colten

You are sleeping right next to me right now and your calm and rhythmic breathing leaves me so sure of you. Sure of your safety and your comfort. You have always made me feel sure of you though. You have so much ability, even in your three short years of life. When you flipped, turned and kicked in my stomach, or when you held your head up right after you were born, or when you took your first steps, it was always as if you were saying, "Mommy, it's okay, I got this!" I feel just as sure that you are going to be just as able as a boy, and as a man.

I just read a wonderful list about words of advice for mothers of sons. It left me feeling so very blessed to be your mother. What a great and awesome responsibility and opportunity God has given me! I look forward to teaching you all that I know and learn with you about all those things that I don't know. I know that I won't always have an answer for all of your why's and why not's, I may not even be able to find the 'right' answer, but I promise that I will always try. One thing that I can do very well is Google.

Thank you for being such a bright a beautiful little boy. You have brought so much joy and contentment into my life.

I love you with every ounce of my being!

~Mommy

Monday, January 2, 2012

Don't Wait for Vacation to Enjoy Your Life!

I have been longing to find the time for a good blog update. I sat down yesterday and began a lighthearted post about Toys overtaking my house, which was true of yesterday. But then I decided to stop writing about it and do something about it. So, I spent the better part of the day organizing toys. Colten’s room is now housing about three-fourths of his toys, as opposed to pretty much all of his toys being located in his toy room, a.k.a. our dining room and therefore, all over the house.

I was spurred on by my recent vacation, which was a bit of an eye opener for me. I enjoyed myself so immensely, that I realized that I don’t have to wait until vacation to enjoy my life. It sounds so simple, but this was a true revelation to me. There was also this post on my friend’s Face Book Wall that spoke to me in the same fashion. It was something about a girl who redesigned her life. I don’t really remember what it said, but the message was that you hold the key to your own happiness, though it may take a little elbow work to make it happen.

I have let myself get so bogged down with things in my life that I was in shutdown mode. Which means that not only was I shutting out the things that stress me out, I was also shutting out the things that truly make me happy. I told myself that I didn’t have the time or the money to do the things I wanted, but now I’m realizing that the only thing really keeping me from what makes me happy is me. It’s funny that the New Year is usually reserved for self discovery like this, but I haven’t really even taken stock in that just yet. We got home from our vacation on New Year’s Eve and we have been so busy getting settled back in and unwinding from vacation that I haven’t properly celebrated or given thought to a new year. I bought myself a bottle of Martini and Rossi Asti (my favorite Champagne) with halfhearted thoughts about ringing in the New Year. But I was in bed by 9 and didn’t even try to make it to the countdown, and I never even popped the top on my bubbly.

One New Year’s tradition that I did invoke, however, was the day-long feat of making Black Eyed Peas and Collard Greens. I save this tradition for once a year because I think it is such a pain to make. To be more specific, the Black Eyed Peas are fairly easy, but the Collard Greens are a pain! I do love eating them though! And I just can’t imagine settling for the alternative version, coming from a can. Also, I know that it is imperative that Jeff get’s his New Year’s Black Eyed Peas. I found this out the hard way one over-celebrated New Year’s (i.e. I drank too much bubbly the night before.) I decided that Black Eyed Peas could wait for another year, leaving me the time and energy to recuperate from the night before. I was wrong. We had some disagreement about it, which ultimately led to Jeff finding him some Black Eyed Peas at all cost. Ok, I'm being a little over dramatic about it, but the message came across. So, now I make sure that we have Black Eyed Peas on New Year's Day.

I realize that I am leaving out all of the good details about our vacation. But the most inclussive one is that we had an excellent time! We took a trip to Connecticut, where Jeff is from. This was my first time to meet a lot of his family. I don’t even know where to begin in telling you about our trip. So, I am thinking that I will save it for another Blog. I’ll be sure to get around to it soon though…

I will leave you with an excerpt from yesterdays unfinished Blog, The Toys Have It…

**** My home is being taken over by toys! There are several reasons for this condition. One, I have a toddler, who not only has plenty of toys, but who also got a healthy appreciation of assets this Christmas. In other words, he got lots more toys! Second, my house isn't very big. I'd love to get a new one, with lots of luxurious storage, but I'm not sure that's in my cards any time soon. So, I guess that leads me to the last reason. The toys have been allowed to roam freely in my house, in no speakably organized fashion. So, today Jeff (I told him he would, but I'm quite sure he doesn't want to do it) and I are going to get some organization going. The real issue has really been that Colten's room is upstairs.****

*This is Colten's train set that he got for Christmas, set up in our living room...taking up the entire place as you can see.
"Life isn't about waiting for the storms to pass...it's about learning how to dance in the rain." -Vivian Greene
"Success is not final, Failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." -Sir Winston Churchill