Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Little Boy Blue

I'll have to follow up on this post with a picture once I download, but for now I can only describe the hilarity that was Parker this weekend when he colored himself entirely blue with a Crayola washable marker. I probably should have stopped him, at the very least when the diaper came off, but to be honest, it was just too funny to interfere. While growling and saying "I'm a tiger- rawwwwr!" Parker covered pretty much every inch of himself (including areas that probably should never be blue), whith 'Brilliant Berry Blue.' Have I mentioned I have a funny son? Later that day Parker's bath water immediately turned Carribean blue as the little boy inside that blue tiger began to reimmerge.

'Dress up' has been one of Parker's favorite activities lately. Outfits have included hats, leis, dog collars, necklaces, socks on the arms, pants on the head, collander on the head, mommy's shoes, daddy's shoes, and a wide variety of other objects on a wide variety of body parts. You just never know what he's going to come up with or what he is going to describe himself as. It's the best entertainment ever! I know I say this in every post, but I have never in my life had more fun than these two years being Parker's mom.

For a while now Chris and I have been mulling over trying to sell our house and move outside the city... closer to my work and into a bigger house. After meeting with a realtor and anguishing over everything it would take to make this happen and the money we would lose trying to sell right now, we have decided to relax and stay put for a couple more years. I can't tell you the relief this decision has granted us. I think neither one of us realized how much pressure we were putting on ourselves trying to make all of this happen, and it reallys feels good that we've come to the realization that what we have now is pretty darn great and that we should take a deep breath and enjoy it. I have a nasty habit of obsessing over "what's next?" instead of living in the here and now. As the old saying goes, 'Life is what happens while you're busy making plans,' so my recent goal is to open my eyes and enjoy every moment of the great life Chris and I have created together. We are blessed with what we have, and I know it's important to be grateful! My friend Brooke is always great at helping me remember that things nearly always happen as they should, and it is my job to trust that this is the case. :)

Ok, well there's my two-cents for the day. I'll try to get some photos up really soon!

Love,
Laura

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

That's right... two in one month!

Funny- When I wrote that title I meant "two blog posts in the same month," but looking at it I realize it has double meaning... Parker will also BE TWO in one month!!! TWO!!! My little baby boy has grown into the most wonderful little person who gives great hugs, tells funny stories, and says "I love you, Mommy!" He is my best little friend and the sunshine in every one of my days.

Speaking of sunshine, this is the first time we've seen it for a whole week! For those of you not in Georgia and who haven't watched the news recently, we have had torrential rain for the past week, leading to serious flood conditions in some areas of Atlanta and other parts of the state. Astonishingly, 10 people died in the floods, which is a true tragedy. We've experienced some water damage (small roof leaks, water back-up against the back of the house), and although these things are a concern and a nuisance, we are thankful that our house is not submerged and that we are all safe and sound.

My parents were visiting from Oregon for the whole week and couldn't believe the rain! My dad and I usually go for walks every day when the are in town, so I was sad to miss out on that special time together, but we had lots of fun anyway. Parker had a great time getting to know Grandma and Grandpa a lot better and showing them all of his new talents. They read a lot of books, and played a lot with Playdough, which is his most favorite activity these days! Grandma, of course, is quite a Playdough sculpter, and made many beautiful animals and creations for Parker to squish! They fly out today, and I miss them already!

Eating out with Parker has been quite a challenge lately, as he has no interest in sitting in a chair or high chair, and has very little interest in eating most of the time! He just wants to get up and go exploring, which is not very condusive to leisurely dining. Terrific Two's here we come! :) Parker is the pickiest little thing on the planet- it's a wonder he doesn't just blow away! He seems to survive on little bites of grapes and yogurt and toast here and there, so I guess I shouldn't worry, but it's hard not to. Toddlers are really something else! :)

Well- back to work for me, but I'll give another update soon. Pray the sunshine stays with us long enough to get our roof fixed!

-L

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

And you thought it would never happen....


Low and behold, I woke up this morning and felt like blogging. It was a busy summer, and there's way too much to try and recap, so I'm just going to move forward from here. As I was writing my friend Leah an email yesterday I realized that Parker is doing way too many fun and hilarious things these days not to record them and share them. Now that work has slowed down a bit (today is the last day a new student can enroll for fall term, so I can breathe a sigh of relief!), I've got more down time to sit down and type a little. It feels nice to sit here sipping my coffee and eating some fig bread a colleague brought into the office and reflect a bit.

Parker will be two in two months. TWO! Just like every parent for all time has said, I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW FAST THE TIME IS FLYING BY!!! P now talks in 4-5 word sentences, makes jokes, can count to ten, spell his name.... he's pretty much amazing. He's still happy as can be, but is also learning to communicate his likes and dislikes more clearly. (AKA "NOOOOOOOO BEEEEDDDDDDDTIIMMMMMEEEE") My favorite thing he is doing a lot of is playing make-believe. He will wrap up a stuffed animal in a blanket and carry it around like a baby, singing it "night night songs," or ask for a piece of cheese to feed to the animals in the Fisher Price farm at Deborah's house. He says "My" instead of "I'm," so everything comes out really cute. "My eating my banana." "My jumping on this!" He even says lots of complicated words like alligator, bicycle, dinosaur,... Can you tell I'm still the proudest Mommy there ever was?

Well, I'd better get back to work, but wanted to let you all know that Parker Peanut and his fam are still live and well. More later. -L

Monday, June 15, 2009

A fun, relaxing weekend

I don't have any big news to share...just that we had a really enjoyable family weekend together, got the house cleaned up a bit, and did some relaxing. On Saturday we took Parker to a place called Leapin' Lizzards- a huge warehouse sized building full of inflatable castles, slides, jumparoos, and animals. We met Parker's friend Henry, who is a few months younger than he is, and his parents and had a really good time playing. After that we tried a brand new restaurant in our neighborhood- Saba- which was delicious and kid-friendly. Yay! Needless to say, our little guy slept like a log that night. On Sunday, Parker and I walked to our community pool which has a whole section for little people and spent three hours playing in the water with other toddlers and their parents. It was a perfect pool day and we had so much fun! We took a little break from swimming and had a little picnic lunch by the pool. Sitting there with Parker, eating slices of cheese, grapes, and cereal and sipping on a juice box watching other kids splashing around in the pool was just one of those perfect moments in life that I want to hold on to forever. We walked back home and both took a long nap. I'd call that a perfect Sunday afternoon!

Hope you all have a great week. Everyone send my friend Christi happy labor thoughts- tomorrow is her due date! We can't wait to meet little Matt!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Let's do something nice in memory of Marvin...

Most of you know that Starvin Marvin was a stray kitten who I adopted after he was left on his own at 5 weeks old. He was a special needs kitty with many disabilities, but even more wonderful attributes. Today I went to the Atlanta Pet Rescue website and donated a small amount towards the surgery for another injured kitten, Twinkie, whose leg was broken by a dog and requires surgery. I'd like to ask that, if you can, you pick an animal organization in your area who helps animals in need and make a small donation in Marvin's memory. There are so many animals out there in need of care, and although there are also many great organizations who work to help, they count on donations to provide medical care to sick and injured animals. Thanks for helping me keep Marvin's memory alive by helping another animal in need.

Best,
Laura

Monday, June 8, 2009

At long last, another post...


To anyone who is still stopping by to see if I finally got around to updating my blog, thanks for sticking with me! The spring flew by in it's usual whirlwind, and now that our students are out of school for the summer and our end-of-year meetings have come to an end I can take a deep breath and a moment to reflect on the past few months.

Over the past few months we celebrated Chris' 31st birthday, mother's day, my dad's birthday, our 3-year wedding anniversary, and the graduation of the BA class of 2009. We traveled as a family to San Francisco, congratulated our friends the Burts on a new addition to their family and await an addition to the Thompson family (any day now), and have had fun visits with friends and family who have come to visit us. 2009 has been a busy year already, and we're only half way done!

Parker is still the apple of my eye, the most joyful part of my day, and the person who can make me laugh the loudest. He tickles his mommy and daddy with funny jokes, dances, songs, and activities on a daily basis. He knows more words than I can count, and is using sentences more and more often. He can even identify and write the letter "P" and says "P for Parker" whenever he sees one. I just can't say enough about what a wonderful experience being Parker's mom has been and continues to be every day. I know Chris feels the same way.

This past weekend Leah came to visit from Oregon, and I was so grateful to her for traveling great distances to be with us for a few days. It was so special to spend the weekend with one of my oldest and dearest friends. We spent a lot of time relaxing, talking, taking walks, and eating good food. I'm also particularly glad that Leah was in town this weekend because it was time for us to say goodbye to our darling Starvin Marvin. I won't say much... just that he was the best cat ever to walk the earth and that he will be missed always. His strange little body wasn't built to last, but I know he lives on in a special place in the hearts of everyone who knew him. I'm so glad that Leah was here to be my support and to help me make a really tough decision, but undeniably the right decision.

Well, its Monday, and I'm exhausted after a long weekend. Now that summer is here and the dust has settled after the end-of-the-school-year-mania, I should be back to posting a few thises and thats more regularly. In the mean time, say a little prayer for Marvin's safe journey to the fields of catnip that await him in kitty heaven. He was, and always will be my little angel.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Monday, May 4, 2009

Little Laura



This week at work is Teacher/Staff Appreciation week, and they asked us to send in photos of ourselves as babies/kids so that the students can guess who is who. Mom and Dad scanned a few for me to use, so I thought I would post them. Can you believe how much some of these look like Parker!?! Usually I think he looks just like Chris, but there's no question he got some of my features (eyes, ears!!!) :)

Friday, April 24, 2009

Easter Pics



Here are a couple of pictures from the Easter Egg Hunt at my school where Parker got to meet the Easter Bunny! The other pic is Parker after eating too many chocolate eggs. :)

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Hello my name is Par Par.

This weekend Parker started referring to himself by name. If you point to him and say "Who is this?" he points to his chest and says "Par Par." It is the sweetest thing you can imagine. He has also recently started saying "thank you" "I did it" "Go, Dog, Go!" and "there it is." He can also (sometimes) count to three. All this and he's not even a year and a half old! I can't believe how smart my little guy is.

We will be celebrating Parker's half-birthday in San Francisco in a couple of weeks! I can't remember... did I already blog about this? I'm going to a conference and Chris and Parker are coming along for fun! Chris also lined up a DJ gig that will more than pay for his plane ticket, so we get a free mini-vacation! Yay! I love San Fran and can't wait to eat some sourdough bread, sushi, and Thai food! Yummmmmmm. The conference hotel is the San Fran Hyatt, which I hear is really nice. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is the flight, but we'll manage.

Easter was a lot of fun. We met up with some of my family members who were in town and went on a grand easter egg hunt. Parker thought this was the best thing ever! He has also discovered a new favorite treat- Peeps. He likes them so much he took a package of Peeps and hid in our walk-in closet where he proceeded to unwrap them all by himself. We caught him before he was able to stuff the 6 marshmallow "Birds" into his mouth, which was very upsetting to him. He followed us around mournfully sobbing "no, no, biiirds, no, no, biiirds." Don't worry- we gave him one for dessert an hour later. :)

As far as I know I don't have any plans this coming weekend, which is very exciting to me. I would love to have a couple of days to fiddle around in the yard and get the house in order, take Par Par to the Park, and then relax with a good book.

Have a great week!

-L

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Happy Birthday, Buddha!

If we were waking up in some other countries around the world today, such as in Japan, we just might be taking the day off; for it is on this date, April 8, that many people celebrate the birthday of Buddha. What motivated a wealthy prince to renounce his worldly possessions and choose to live as a simple monk, teaching how to find happiness and to let go of suffering? Legend has it that Buddha was born around 560 BC, in a kingdom that was on the borders of present-day India and Nepal, and that his name was Prince Siddhartha Gautama. At age twelve, it was foretold that the prince would become a great spiritual teacher if he were allowed to see sickness, suffering and death, so his father, the king, did everything he could to shield his son from seeing the “real world.” However, at age thirty, the prince escaped, and after coming to the realization that all of his wealth and power could do nothing to stop the pain and suffering of the world, he came upon a monk who was calm and peaceful, despite his own many hardships. Filled with zeal and great compassion to help the world, the prince renounced his title, gave away his possessions and began devoting his life to discovering the way to eliminate human suffering. After years of study, meditation and sacrifice, legend has it that he found what is known as “Nirvana” (the cure to the ills of the world), and became the Buddha, or the “completely enlightened.” Buddha adopted the life of a religious teacher from the age of 35 until his death at the age of 80, and he attracted many followers. In the centuries following his death, Buddhism has become a very popular religion in many countries throughout the world, not just in Asia, and it all began with the young prince who advised his followers to teach this “triple truth” to all: “A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.”

Back from the dead...

Well, the Nicholson family has finally recovered from THE WORST STOMACH VIRUS EVER. My boss was home for a few days with it last week, where Parker picked it up, and in turn gave it to me and Chris. I will spare you all the gory details, but let me just tell you I would rather go through labor and delivery again than re-live the past 5 days. The bug caused Chris to cancel on his own birthday party, me to miss my own recruitment event at work, and for Parker and I to miss Christi's baby shower. Even worse, Chris had two friends visiting from Seattle who had to bear witness to the nastiness that was taking place and had nowhere to escape to! Sorry guys! Seriously bad timing!!!

Now that we're all back from the dead, Parker and I are going to celebrate by going to meet the Easter Bunny!!! Luck has it that the big EB is taking a break from preparing Easter baskets to make a visit to our campus. He will be hosting an egg hunt for all the little people at the campus Child Development Center (and Parker)! It looks like it is going to be a beautiful day and I can't wait to see my little guy's face when he sees all the other little ones, lots of bright eggs, and, of course, a six foot bunny waving at him.

Parker is talking up a storm these days and knows more than 75 words, which really blows my mind. He's starting to string words together more as well. He's such a smartie! I'm determined to put in some work this weekend figuring out how to get the video clips of him doing cute stuff out of the video camera and into my computer. I am so pathetically low(no)-tech, but I'll do my best to figure it out. Sharing his horse whinny with you alone would make it worth my while. Prepare for hilarity!

For Easter this weekend we are meeting up with some of my family members here in Atlanta. My Dad's cousin's son recently bought a house here and is hosting a little get together. We will see Uncle Paul, Aunt Kathy, Cousin Jake, Second Cousins Helen and George, and their kids who I haven't met yet. It should be fun! I certainly never imagined I would be attending a family reunion in Atlanta- who knew!

Well, back to work for me. I hope you all have a fun and relaxing Easter weekend. Brooke, if you're reading this, I hope your sweet baby Audrey will arrive in time to enjoy Easter 2009 with you! We can't wait to meet her!

Hoppy Wednesday,
Laura

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Another quick funny...

Parker and I were lounging in bed the other morning watching a little 'Handy Manny' when my stomach made a really loud growling sound (time for breakfast!). Parker lifted up my shirt and growled fiercely back at my belly button. Once again- funniest boy in the world!

Monday, March 23, 2009

Daddy and Parker's trip to Athens






While I stayed home and repainted some super-cool vintage chairs I picked up at a garage sale, Parker and Chris drove up to Athens, Georgia, where Mima, Grammy, and Cousin Adele were all waiting to see him. They played in the yard, ran around, and ate good food. Meanwhile, I headed to Gabrielle's bachelorette party, which I will simply say was very entertaining. Here are some pics from their trip:

Friday, March 20, 2009

Parker, Parker, quite contrary.



Our little Parker has discovered the word "NO" and will very sweetly tell you "no" to almost any question you ask him this week. It's so funny. His other favorite word of the week is "happy," which he will say over and over again (reminding mommy of the Ren and Stimpy "happy happy joy joy song.") Parker's latest obsessions are grapes, which he calls "bops"... I don't know why, the swiffer sweeper (it will keep him busy for hours) and birds. He gets very excited about talking about birds, seeing birds, and thinking about birds. He also likes stomping around pretending to be a dinosaur and roaring. There is nowhere P would rather be than out in the yard playing with sticks, running in the grass, and watching the dog run around. I've attached a few pictures. It's almost the end of the day... Friday at last... so I'm not going to write much, but just wanted to give a little update. Tomorrow is going to be crazy: tax appointment, quick trip to Athens (Georgia that is), and then Gabrielle's bachelorette party (where I will watch a gentleman named 'Romance' put on some sort of show... I can't imagine what his talent might be...?) More updates on that later.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Puerto Vallarta!!!






I'm finally getting around to writing a note or two about our grand adventure to Mexico!!! We barely escaped the "storm of the century" in Atlanta (which equated to 3 inches of snow on the ground and some low temperatures)when we hopped on a plane two Saturdays ago to fly direct into Puerto Vallarta. Parker was so great on the flight and made tons of friends with other passengers- young and old. We even bumped in to 3 or 4 of the same people at the airport at the end of the week who greeted him by name and came to ask how his vacation was. What a social networker we have already! :)
When we arrived we were bombarded by people asking to get us a taxi, and like the suckers we are we followed one guy out to the lot, where we could have easily walked ourselves, and were then asked for a tip. Yup- we are the stupid tourists. Oh well. When we finally arrived at the resort, after a misguided tour of the hotel lobby next door, we happily greeted "grandma" and "grandpa" and lay down to relax for a little while. Later that day, Pete and Sue arrived from California and we were all able to eat dinner together as a family. Very nice!

The days to follow were spent swimming, eating, and drinking margaritias! Parker was wild about the pool, so Chris and I got up each morning, waited until the pool opened at 9, lathered Parker up in his baby sunblock, and headed for the kiddie pool. Our Parker is one little fish. He is still looking at us pleadingly asking to go to the "wa wa." Good thing it won't be long until it's pool season here in Atlanta.

Chris and I took a couple of excursions together including a booze-cruise to an island where we watched a stage show called "Rhythms of the Night" for which my parents got us tickets the week before. After the show we got to eat a wonderful dinner by candlelight on the beach and then booze-cruise our way back to town. (I won't mention the part about getting lost in a croud of cruise boat tourists and arguing about whether we were going to miss our boat or not after which one of the cruise boat operators asked if he could take me off of Chris' hands... ahhhhhh tequila...)Anyway,for the most part it was great and I only remembered the fun part in the morning. :)

On our last day Chris and I took a taxi down south a number of miles where we went to my favorite spot in the PV area, Mismaloya beach. We spent a great day together (after we got over leaving Parker...we both get more separation anxiety than he does). We staked out a beach chair (or rather were herded to a beach chair by a restaurant worker who wanted us to sit in front of his joint) where we spent most of the day trying out funny tropical drinks like the 'Crazy Monkey' and the 'Chi Chi,' playing in the water, buying some trinkets from vendors on the beach, and exploring the ruins of the set of the old classic movie 'Night of the Iguana,' One of my personal favorites. :) I don't think Chris and I had spent this much time alone together since Parker was born, and we really enjoyed eachother's company.

Saying goodbye to the family was sad, as it always is, but we were ready to head home at the end of the week. All three of us got a pretty nasty cold during our last 2 days there and we were missing our animals big time. Anyway, that's about all I can think of to say for now. I haven't downloaded camera pictures yet, but here are a few from Chris' iPhone.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

A quick little funny...

So I went to see Parker at lunch today, as I always do. I had eaten my lunch and was sipping on a cup of coffee when I hear a weird barking sound. I look around and realize that Deborah's cat, Hobbs, is coughing up a hairball (I know, Tessa- one more reason not to like cats...ha). Then I hear another weird cough, not coming from the cat, and see Parker on his hands and knees pretending to cough up his own hairball. I nearly died laughing it was so funny. I asked him what he was doing and he said "Cat" and then made the coughing sound again. Oh, I have the funniest little person alive.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Mexico Bound!!!

Yes, we are still alive....and headed to a warm and sunny Mexico vacation on Saturday! It has been a busy month and we are all ready for some rest and relaxation. We're meeting my parents, brother, and sister-in-law in Puerto Vallarta and will spend the week swimming, sunning, and drinking margaritas. This trip was our Christmas gift from my mom and dad, and boy are we grateful!

Parker is chatting up a storm now, and even says some more complicated words like ear ring "ear wick" and eye brow "ah bra." His current favorite foods are blueberries and whole black beans. The poor little thing is getting 4 big molars in right now, but is still his cheerful self despite the fact that he's not sleeping much. His Elmo addiction has only increased, and he was delighted to find out that Deborah had some old Sesame Street videos from when her kids were little, so now he gets an afternoon Elmo fix as well as his standard car-ride viewings. Oh boy. ;)

Mima (soon to be Mimi?) came down to visit us this weekend and we had so much fun playing, eating, shopping, and chatting. Parker and I were both sad to see her go on Sunday. Chris spent Saturday night in North Carolina at a Bachelor party with a handful of friends. They had a good time, but I think Beth and I had even more fun drinking wine, eating yummy snacks, and watching movies. :) If I know Mima, we'll have a plethora of new pictures coming our way any time now. I'll post some up ASAP. :)

Seniora Laura

Monday, February 2, 2009

We've Created a Monster...

...a Sesame Street monster that is. Parker has been watching Elmo's World on his DVD player in the car and is now OBSESSED with Elmo. He said "Elmo" for the first time yesterday and was carrying the DVD case around to everyone trying to get someone to put it in the player for him (he had already watched it twice). He also dances around singing the theme song..."Da da ta da, Da da ta da....." (if you have a toddler, you know the tune) It really is cute to see him dancing to the music on the show and getting so excited to see Elmo that every part of him wiggles, but then I start feeling guilty about letting my 15 month old watch t.v. I suppose as long as it is in moderation it will be ok. We balanced it out yesterday with playing in the yard and examining sticks and leaves and talking about the dog.

Parker has been SO much fun lately and just gets funnier and wittier as he grows. He is an avid dancer and already has better moves than his Mama. He gives hugs and kisses, big smiles and waves to almost everyone he meets, and is picking up new words nearly every day! He impressed the doctor last week when he knew all of his body parts when she asked him about them- even his teeth, hair and eyebrows! I couldn't be more proud of my little wonder. He makes every day so much fun.

Well, it's almost lunch time, but I wanted to start out the week with a post about Parker Peanut. I realized my blog had morphed from adventures of parenthood and funny stories about Peanut to tales of woe and the trials and tribulations of Laura's whiney existence. Sorry! Here's a new one: Life is good, Parker is adorable, and we're going to Mexico in 4 weeks! Wahoo!

Have a great week.
Love,
Laura

Monday, January 26, 2009

Our New Ride!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Seeing that today is the Chinese New Year, I think it is a great one to take another crack at my new years resolutions. In China, today is the day to give your house a thorough cleaning and sweep out the dirt from the previous year and start the new year fresh and clean. Coincidentally, today is also the day I turned in my company car (out with the old), and will be riding home in our new 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe (in with the new!)! Hooray! I purchased the car on Saturday while Chris was in California and surprised him by picking him up in it at the airport last night! What fun! The Santa Fe is just what I had been looking for and I found a great barely used one at a great price. It sure made parting with the Honda easier to know that I had a great replacement. (...just realized I've used the word great about 10 times in this post so far. Great.) It's kind of funny, actually- It dawned on me that my first car was a 1988 model, my second was a 1998 model, and now my third is a 2008! I guess the universe was telling me it was time for a new car!

Now that that ordeal is over and done with, I can relax a little and enjoy my new car and my free evenings and weekends!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

One LOUSY week.

Well, they say bad news always comes in threes, and this week that has definitely been the case. Yesterday was crap from start to finish. First we got the alarming and very sad news that the father of one of our students committed suicide yesterday morning. We spent the rest of the day offering support to students as a very somber hush fell over the school. Yesterday evening, after a grueling 2 hour drive home, Leah called me to tell me that she needed to cancel her trip to Atlanta at the last minute (she would have arrived this evening) because a dear friend of hers is in the hospital in critical condition. I was so very much looking forward to spending the weekend with my dearest friend, but feel much worse that she may lose a friend.
This morning, I FINALLY heard back about the company car, and the news is "Sorry, but we're turning it in next week." This means I have 4 days to find transportation, get a car loan, and buy a car so I can get to and from work next week. How's that for courtesy.

The good news is that despite my aggravation, I actually feel thankful today. I feel thankful that the people I love are healthy and safe, that I have a loving family, and that I am employed in a job I enjoy, despite obvious inconveniences. This week's events have really given me a reminder to have perspective, and to know how blessed I am in the things I have been provided.

So, now I'm going to try to enjoy car shopping as much as possible. At least "now is the time to buy!" Sigh....

More later.

-L

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

2009 has been interesting so far...

I haven't talked a lot about this on my blog, but over the past three or four months I have been feeling a little "off". Of course I have still been enjoying Parker, but have felt a lot of anxiety and stress, and just haven't felt like myself. I believe that part of this is because I really had taken on too much and wasn't making it a priority to take care of myself. My New Year's resolution was to reduce stress and take care of myself so that I will have more happiness and energy left to give back to those around me. This past weekend, I made the difficult decision to drop my online program. I did this so that I could come home from work and commit my home time to Parker and to Chris, and also to myself. I'm going to read books I want to read, take time to sit down and eat dinner, and maybe even fit in some exercise! I feel a little bit dissapointed in myself for not being able to pull it off, but moreso I feel an overwhelming amount of relief... or at least I did, until...

I got an email from the second in command at the University saying that they don't think they want to renew the lease on the company vehicle they gave me to drive a year and a half ago. Here's the even better part- the lease is up on the 27th of January. Chris and I only have one (running) car, and that car is the very same one I was driving in HIGH SCHOOL in 1998. It has been having all kinds of problems lately, and I know it wouldn't hold up if I were to drive it over 100 miles a day as required by my commute (not to mention that would leave Chris without a car...). I am HORRIFIED that my employer would give me this news with 14 days notice, and feel very disrespected by the way it was presented to me. I know that this is not a decision that was made by anyone I work with directly, but it still makes me loose a lot of faith in my employment situation. Chris and I can't just go out tomorrow and buy a new car in the next two weeks. That type of investment would be a stretch for us at this point and would require more preparation than two little weeks. I am really upset and not quite sure what this means for us. As always, I guess I just need to have faith that things will work out as they should.

Needless to say, my momentary feeling of relief after dropping my class immediately vanished and was replaced by anxiety. Sigh. I'm trying not to let this news distract me from my orginal goals of self care. The universe has been good to me and my family, and I know that with every closed door comes an open window. Keep your fingers crossed for a good resolution to our momentary dillema.

Ommm..... ommmmmm.... :)

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Mima and Papa's visit!






Mima and Papa came to spend this past weekend with us and we had a wonderful time. As usual, Mima brought lots of good food, wine, and took lots of pictures!!! I don't have a lot of time to write, but wanted to get some of these great pics up!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Welcome Penelope Jade!

I won't post her picture with out parental permission, but I am so excited that my dear old friend Jessa had her baby, Penelope Jade, this past weekend. Little P was 3-4 weeks early, but she's cute as a button and already much adored by everyone, including me. :) Congratulations John and Jessa!!!

Next on the agenda- ACCOUNTING! I start my online accounting class tomorrow (gulp) and will hopefully survive with at least an ounce of my sanity left. I'm having some serious anxiety about this class, and even more so now that I have looked over the syllabus and noticed that a HUGE percent of my grade is made up of the midterm and final exam grade. I usually depend on my daily assignment and paper grades to help me out, since that is where my strength lies, not in test taking. I must keep reminding myself, all I need to do is pass. I know I can do that much at least.

Grandma and Grandpa also arrive tomorrow, so we have that to look forward to. We still have our (dried out) Christmas tree up waiting to celebrate with them on Saturday. I think we will get up, open stockings, open gifts, and then strip down the tree and give it the boot. :) We might also try to make it to the aquarium this weekend. We'll see how we feel about it and how much energy we have after our "holiday" food. I'll be taking some videos with my new camera and trying to rope Chris into helping me figure out how to get them into the compute and onto my blog. (Lindsay- maybe you can give me a quick tutorial?) :)

Parker is enjoying all of his Chrismas loot, and some of mine. One of his favorite "toys" from Christmas is my new excercise ball. His eyes got huge when we blew it up, and he kept saying "ball" with an inflection that translated into "my goodness, that's the biggest ball I've ever seen." He walks behind it rolling it down the hall and into various rooms. He also got a little lawn mower from Grammy, and has spent a good deal of time mowing the living room. Why don't they make those things pick up crumbs as they go?

New word update:

Out (get me out of this: tub, high chair, carseat, crib)
Up
Al (Emma's brother who is home from college)
Trash
Eye
Ear
Nose (sort of)
Feet
Socks
Shoes

Ok- back to work for me again.

Oh- PS. HAPPY 2009!

Monday, January 5, 2009

A couple of cute Christmas pics!



Here is Parker in his Christmas jammies and with his new lawn mower.