A yearly reflection

As the year comes to its annual close, it is time for me to once again look back and reflect on what I have learned, what I wish I had learned, and what I hope to learn next year.

What I have learned:

•  Some people come, some people go.
• What takes years to create, can take minutes to break
• Nothing, I repeat, nothing is sacred in a house with a 2 year old
• Crayon does come off of walls with the Magic Eraser
• It is all right to demand time off, even from being a mom
• Sleeping until 6 am, IS sleeping in, who knew?!
• Going to sleep by 8 pm isn't just for old people anymore (unless I am getting old!?!)
• Mistakes can, and do come back to haunt you
• Worrying about it, isn't going to make it go away
• Budgeting really DOES work!
• You cannot make a 2 year old eat something, sometimes you have to let them go hungry for a couple of days
• Tantrums, teething, pooping, headaches, scrapes, bruises, they all come with having a toddler
• Discipline HAS to be consistent.  Give in one time, and you are doomed!
  
• Once you find a pediatrician who loves your 2 year old monster child, as much as you do, you will travel 20 minutes longer than you had to before to follow them.
• It is better to listen than to talk sometimes often 
• Taking pictures can be cathartic

What I wish I had learned:

• How to not worry SO much 
• How to use Photoshop Elements with a little more precision
• How to make my 2 year old obey every time the first time
• How to make millions of dollars while being a stay at home mom
• How to let go of things before they become more than they need to be
• How to travel faster, like maybe through a secret door way or something

What I hope to learn next year:

• How to say good-bye to a "family" that has seen us through so many good times and so many bad times without completely losing it
• How to explain to my 3 year old that we are moving away from the life that he knows and loves
  
• How to trust HIM completely, no matter what, that He has the best plan for our lives, and NO, I am not allowed to help Him!
• How to be a civilian wife, instead of a military wife
• How to take better pictures than I am taking now, and maybe even make a little money doing it

Whew!  What a year!  Some good, some bad, some in between.  2010 promises to be filled with new adventures, new learning experiences, new loves.  I can't wait, but at the same time, I can.  I hope that 2009 was a wonderful for you as it was for me, and that 2010 holds the promise of good things for you and yours!

A Merry, Happy Christmas

This year Christmas was so very, very full.  It was full of hustle and bustle, family (my mom and sister were here), friends, excitement, sugar cookies, milk, and Santa's Magic Key.  I couldn't be more content than I am now.  As our last Christmas in Hawaii comes to  close I know that I have been blessed so far beyond measure, and that all the praise goes to God who provided me with everything I have.  There are exciting things in store for us this coming year, and I am looking forward to every moment.

Sugar cookies with Auntie Amy, Nana, and Daddy

Writing to Santa

Santa wrote back

Opening presents

At the beach

My Family

Monster v. Angel

2:14 am:  Jared starts wailing louder than most 2 years should be allowed to, Daddy gets up and puts binky in his mouth, go back to sleep

2:24 am:  Wailing starts again, Mommy gets up, replaces binky, starts to stealthily stumble out of his room, close door, wailing again.  Determined to go back to sleep, brings crying 2 year old into her and Daddy's bed

2:30 am:  Crying 2 year old is now ready to play with Daddy.  Mommy brings 2 year old back to his own bed, shuts door, puts pillow of her own ears.

2:45 am:  Crying has not stopped, Daddy goes to the rescue once more, said 2 year old is still not interested in sleeping, Daddy comes back to bed and puts pillow over his own ears

3:00 am:  Crying STILL has not stopped, Mommy dons the super hero cape and enters the room of 2 year old monster, monster then puts his blanket on the side of his bed, stands up, and says "Go!", Mommy, convinced that 2 year old monster is not sick, dying, hurt, etc., places 2 year old back on his pillow, puts blanket over him, and shuts door, shuts the door  to her room and turns monitor off. 

3:25 am:  No more crying.  2 year old monster, is once again Mommy's little angel

When I have no voice, how do I get my point across?

I think it is safe to assume that Jared and I are both over whatever viruses were lurking in our bodies.  However, as a special consolation gift, I was left with no voice.  I don't have a cough and my throat isn't sore, but when I speak it sounds like I have been smoking a pack a day for years.  This doesn't happen to me often, which is good, since I love to talk, but when it does I am always left scrambling for the best way to communicate throughout the day.  After reading various websites, I have determined that if I choose to forgo the advice of keeping my mouth shut, then I could have this laryngitis for a lot longer then if I just tape my mouth shut for the rest of the day.  I even tried justifying that I slept for 8 WHOLE hours with no talking, that should count, I think.  So, for the rest of the night, as it is 6:30 here in Hawaii, I am vowing to keep my mouth shut.  I DID talk today.  I HAD to.... come on..... seriously!  I can't survive without some sort of conversation throughout my day. 

In other news, Brandon's shifts these last two days have not been nearly as bad as we expected.  But, he thinks that starting tomorrow there will be long shifts of 12+ hours.  Just 3 more days, and only 2 of them will be full days, because on Friday he checks out on leave, and that is it!  Woo hoo!  TEN whole days with my hubby without the boat interfering.  Oh the joy!

Anybody know how to make prime rib??  I am thinking that it may have to be something that sits on our table this year for Christmas.  I could use all the help I can get on the best way to do it.

Germs are what make us sick

It seems that Jared and I caught some germs from somewhere.  We are both sick, however, it seems we are at the tail end of it all.  After spending 2 hours in the ER with Jared yesterday it was determined that he has an ear infection, probably from the runny nose he has been sporting for the last couple of days.  He is on a round of antibiotics that will hopefully take care of that.  Cartoons have been our friend during this time, and thankfully Brandon has been well enough to take are of us. 

We are just praying that these germs will leave us all alone for the holidays.  We are going to have Jared's Nana and Auntie Amy (my mom and sister) here for Christmas.  Sharing is caring, but we try to keep our germs to ourselves.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas....

This past week we finally had some time as a family, and we used that time to start setting up our Christmas tree.  This year I opted for using shatterproof balls so that Jared could participate in the decorating and I would not feel like I had to tell him to stay away from the tree.  He got a true kick out of putting the balls on the tree and continued to say "ball"  all night.  It's hard to say whether he knows what Christmas is, or why we put the tree up at all, but he definitely found joy in watching it all come together. 
We cannot wait to play "Santa" this year and see his face on Christmas morning when he sees all that Santa left.
In the midst of this, every single day Jared has been learning the lessons of the nativity.  Our advent calendar is one that places a magnet of the nativity into the manger.  He enjoys placing the magnets into the scene and hearing us tell him the story that is behind each one.  Sometimes it is as simple as a barn animal, and we tell him that even the animals were there for HIS birth. 
I sure hope that Jared finds the lessons of this season as he continues to grow.

 

Roooooaaaaarrrrrrr!!!

Jared has been receiving speech services for the last 8 months or so, because he was behind in the amount of words he should have by now.  After the first 6 months, they added new benchmarks to his progress plan.  They decided that he needed to start learning animals and their sounds.  We had never really worked on this with him (I know, bad parenting!), so we were slightly pessimistic on how it would go.  We could get him to point out certain animals pictures, but we couldn't get him to make any sounds.  A couple of months ago we finally got him to bark back at dogs by saying "woof woof".  Last night Brandon and Jared were putting an alphabet puzzle together and Brandon pointed to that lion, and said "that's a lion, it says ROAR (while putting his hands in a claw-like fashion by his face)".  He then asked Jared what a lion says, and he proceeded to put his hand up by his face in a claw-like fashion and say "Roooaaaaaaarrrrrrr".  He is about what it looked like:

On a later note, today he learned to say "mooooo" when asked what a cow says, however it is not nearly as exciting as the lion.....

Santa!

As a Christian, I have often wondered whether it is "okay" to let my kids believe in Santa Claus.  Brandon and I agreed that it is all right to let them have innocence and joy in thinking that there is magic and giving in the world.  However, we also have two Nativity sets and an advent calendar that is the Nativity.  Each night Jared and I put another piece on our advent calendar and talk about what it means.  Last night..... it was a star.  So, we talked about night and how Mary and Joseph had to travel at night so as not to get caught.  He doesn't understand right now, but at least he will some day.

Well, we took Jared to see Santa this past weekend.  I am just glad he isn't old enough to notice that he saw 2 Santas in one day and they looked totally different.  He did love them both.  Here are some pictures to share in the joy that Santa brings to my two year old.

 

 

 

You Don't Have to Like Me....

... because I have a lot of people who love me.

Today I was reminded, yet again, just how special I can feel.  There aren't many people who would go out of their way for a two year old, but Papa Dan sure does.  He loves his grandchildren, even those that aren't blood related to him (like Jared), and he does an awful lot for them.  He called today and asked if he could come over and hang out for awhile.  He said he had a meeting he had to go to and was in the area.  His meeting wasn't until 11:45 this morning, and it was only 9 when he called.  I know he was coming over to make my little man's day.  And he did.  Jared loves Papa Dan.  There are few men in his life that he loves more than him.  He thinks that it is the absolute greatest thing EVER when he gets undivided Papa time.  And, well, you can tell that Papa thinks it is pretty great, too.

And, let's be totally honest here, I think it's awesome too because I get adult conversation.  That goes a LONG way during the day when I have Jared and well, Jared to talk to.  He's a great conversationalist, but his "maaa" and"punkin" and "baoon" and other such words get kind of old after 8 or 9 hours of them.

On this same topic, last night was Bible study.  I love Bible study.  I am surrounded by people I consider family (even if we are disfunctional), we eat, we tease, and then we learn about God.  Doesn't get much better.  Last night we had some new people, and well, they just added so much spirit to our group.  I am so glad that they came.  After Bible study I got a great 8 hours of sleep, and felt ready and willing to face the day ahead of me today!