Habits

You know how they say it takes 7-8 weeks to actually makes something a habit--ugh, that's a long time.  Again with my lack of patience, I want things to happen immediately-even if it is a habit that I have perfected over the course of many years.  Going with my theme of trying to be more purposeful with my time this year--I decided that a major time waster of mine is having the tv on during the day, so this week I decided it was time to kick that bad habit. Well, I am now on day 4 and it is TOUGH.  It's not like I was watching a lot of tv, but it was definitely on for background noise and it was a mindless distraction every once in a while.  It's interesting that when you start holding yourself more accountable for your time, you find that things you did were huge time wasters.  I made my 2 week Facebook ban and that has really helped so I think that I am going to stick with it.  The tv thing though is probably going to take the whole 7-8 weeks to really become an easy thing day to day.  But, like I said, my main goal this year is to be a good role model and I don't want my girls to become couch potatoes, so I can't be one either :)  I must say though, that this whole being a good role model is making me more thoughtful about actions, words and behaviors and if I have to break a bad habit, I guess it's worth the 7-8 weeks of pain so that I am being a better mom!

Do you think they want to go to the park?

This video cracks me up--just re-watching it, the dogs thought I was actually talking and got so excited thinking that we might be going to the park.  Another reason why 40's and 50's in January is awesome!!!! We actually have gone to the park two out of the last three days--that is unheard of in Chicago in January.

Note to self

1.  Always check before turning on the toaster over--you never know what you are going to find in there and 2. Teach Kiley toaster oven and microwave safety (aka do not put plastic in either unless you want to burn the house down).  I guess she wanted Ella to experience a little toasted baby food.

Simple yet Effective

As a parent now, I have found that I am constantly learning, growing and striving to be a better parent.  Before kids, I thought that I would be an awesome mom, I mean, I figured I was a good babysitter so of course I would be a good mom, right?  Yeah, not exactly just like babysitting!!!  Anyways, yesterday we were in For Eyes, or maybe it's spelled Four Eyes, I don't know, but we were there.  Of course, Kiley was being Kiley and trying on all the glasses.  Now, normally I would have been concerned that she was going to break them and I didn't want them being all judgey, but the reason that we were there in the first place was that they had broken Kevin's glasses when he had left them there to get new lenses in, so I figured they couldn't complain too much about a broken pair of demo glasses.  However, she didn't break them and she was actually quite gentle.  Oh again, on to the point of the story.  So this dad and his son come into the store to pick something up--the boy was probably about 8 or 9.  He was looking around for a second while his dad was waiting to get whatever he was picking up.  While the boy was looking around, he found a loose pair of lenses on the ground.  He immediately walked up the employee and said "Excuse me miss, I found these lenses on the ground and I wanted to make sure no one stepped on them."  The employee of course said thank you, but what really struck me was how the dad handled the situation.  I looked over to the dad and he didn't say a word to the son, but as the son walked toward him, he stuck out his hand to give him a handshake.  I loved how he didn't have to say anything, but that simple move saying "nice job son" was so effective in giving his son the recognition on a such remarkable behavior for a kid his age.   I love praising good behavior and I know that it is far more effective than constantly reprimanding for bad behavior, but sometimes you get stuck in the rut of constantly just saying "good job."  I need to remember that moment and parenting technique for the future. Simple yet effective and you know the son just loved getting that attention from his dad.

"The Best of Me" by Nicholas Sparks

So I am attempting to read a book a week this year.  I know, I doubt I will be successful, but I have one week under my belt so I am at least 1 for 1!!!!  This week's book was The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks.

It was a pretty quick read and I would have finished it a lot sooner had I not been spending my time looking at real estate websites for the home of my dreams, only to realize that it's not out there right now.  But, anyways, I did finish it within the week which was really the goal.  I thought that it was a little slow at first and it was hard for me to really grasp the true dynamic of the relationship between the two main characters.
As I was reading it, I was thinking to myself, how could these two characters who are now in their 40's still be holding onto feelings from from their first love whom they haven't spoken to or seen in 20 years. However, then I remembered that I met Kevin when I was a teenager and I'm pretty sure that I would still love him in 20 years even if we went without seeing or talking to each other for all those years--ha wasn't that sappy, true, but a little too cheesy to come out of my mouth.  Anyways, back to the story, it wasn't as predictable as I would have thought.  Granted, I wasn't really thinking of the title while I was reading it or I may have been able to predict the ending a little sooner than 100 pages from the end, but it was an interesting twist.  And when I say interesting--what I really mean is completely unrealistic and would never happen in a million years, but if I wanted a realistic book I guess I should have read a non-fiction :)

Out of a 5 star rating system--which I will give to each book I read.  1 being the worst and 5 the best (just so you don't get confused), I think that I give this one a two.  It wasn't amazing, but if you are looking for a quick read that's not completely romantic and sappy the entire time like some of the other Nicholas Sparks books, then this one was decent.  It's no The Notebook though so don't get your hopes up.

TGIF-and other things I'm thankful for today!

Seriously, can the weather here get any better.  Who has even heard of opening your windows on the 6th of January in Chicago.  Couldn't it just stay like this forever?  Yeah right, next week it will be like 20 degrees, but I the dogs will enjoy it in the meantime, they were super pumped to get out for a walk today!

I also need to get around to getting my thank you cards written and out, but in case it doesn't happen for a while, thanks so much for all the wonderful Xmas gifts from Santa, grandparents, aunts, uncles, dogs, etc.  These two littles were super spoiled this holiday season.  I guess Santa thought we were all pretty good this year.  It was an awesome time spent with family and we had so much fun opening presents, eating good food, and being merry. I think that we have finally recovered and gotten back on track.  Now it's on to what I call birthday party season.  The invitations are rolling in-which means I need to get my butt in gear with getting Kiley's planned, and then Ella's.  Wow, that makes me think I have a lot to do.

I am also thankful for my mom today. Because if I hadn't hated it so much when she would wipe off dirty face with spit, I would have never sworn that I would never do that to my kids.  However, this morning, at about 8:00 when I was getting Kiley out of her car seat, you guessed it, I did the unmentionable and wiped her face with spit.  Shhhh don't tell anyone, however, she did go into school with a "clean" face and when I say clean, I really mean covered in mom spit :)

I'm also thankful that my husband knows way more about financial things that I do which makes it easy for me  to not have to worry about those things.  After discussing the options of moving last night, I think that we are staying put for awhile.  Like I said before, I don't have a lot of patience when I get my mind on something, but he laid it all out for me in a way that I can understand that moving right now is kind of silly.  Plus of course today, I was having an I love the city day, so I think that it is best for us for the time being.  I would be too sad leaving the city right now, so we'll see where we are at in a couple of years.  I'm also thankful that I can now stop wasting time looking at real estate websites.  I swear, why and how do I find some many things to waste time on the internet doing.  I must say though-operation no facebook has allowed me to finish my first book of the year-review coming shortly.

And, of course, I must be thankful for these two littles.  They turned 22 and 8 months this week and can I tell you how hard it is to get both of them looking at the camera, at the same time.  It is near impossible, so you will just have to leave with the awkward shot of one looking cute and the other not so much, I think she may have been watching tv :)  Kiley's new things this month are loving tea parties and dancing.  Ella is perfecting her sitting, loves playing with toys (way more than Kiley ever did at this age) and splashing in the bath.  They love each other and crack each other up.  Ahhh, love them!!!!

Hope you have lots to be thankful for this Friday!!!  Have a great weekend.

Contentment vs. Moving Forward

If you know me, you know that I have always struggled with being content in the here and now.  It's not that I don't appreciate what I currently have, it's just that I am a huge lover of lists and checking things off the list.  I feel like in my life I have always been motivated to reach the next goal, get to the next level, check the next thing off my list.  I struggle with this though, because I currently wonder--is there ever going to be a time where I am not trying to get to the next level.  Is there a difference between being content with what I currently have and just enjoying it or do I constantly have to be thinking ahead to something new and different to keep myself moving forward. Like I said, the past couple of years have been a whirlwind.  They have been awesome, but there have been a lot of changes and now I am at a crossroads once again with if we should move to the suburbs or stay in the city for a couple more years.

Granted, the girls won't be going to school full-time for another three and a half years, but I am already started to stress out about the school process.  It is a crazy process in the city (even for preschool) and I'm just not sure that it is something that I want to take on, especially if I don't see us in the city long-term.

Also, the whole commute thing for Kevin is a big one--even on good days, he doesn't get home until 6 (at the earliest) which would make it pretty difficult for him to help out with sports teams or even see games, etc. in the future.  With me being at home, and him working in the suburbs, there isn't much of a reason to stay in the city other than that we really love it.

There is a ton to do, but as we are finding out, we use the city less and less now that we have kids.  We love to the restaurants and being able to walk down the street to have dinner and a few drinks, we love the parks, and the proximity to our friends.  We love the option to take cabs to go out for the night.  However, the one thing I am starting to wish we had a little more of was a sense of community.  I don't get that in the city.  I remember growing up everyone in the neighborhood going to the same school.  You just knew (aside from maybe a few kids in the neighborhood) who would be in your class.  In the city, EVERYONE goes to different schools.  Just in my group of friends that are mom's to kids Kiley's age--no one will probably even go to the same preschool.  I think that I want my kids to grow up with that suburban feel that I knew growing up.

So, it's with that that I have been struggling for the past couple of days.  Of course--new year brings new things for me.  I do want to move forward on this and I know that it is probably something that will happen sooner than later.  It does make me sad though to think of leaving the city, but I think that it would be a good move for our family and I guess at the end of the day, that is the most important thing to me.  I would love for Kevin to be home earlier on days that he isn't traveling.  I want him to be able to sneak out of work for a few minutes in the day to see a school assembly.  Those things are not so easy right now.

It's not that I am not content with where we are at.  I have so much to be grateful for so I guess contentment and moving forward can sometimes go together.  It's just a fine line of having the patience to know when to take the steps forward in order to feel content in making the change.  Patience isn't my strong suit--sometimes I wonder if I even possess any patience, but I know in this matter that I must possess patience for the right house, in the right neighborhood in the right school district to come along.  I also must remember to feel content in what I love about the city in the meantime, as I know that there is much I am going to miss once we make the big move out to the suburbs.