Winter

I think I can get all of us to agree on one thing.  Winter has worn out its welcome.  To put it in other words....winter can suck it.  I'm over it.  
Last weekend we had almost 60 degree temperatures, and we got to take Aubrey out for a walk and to the playground but no, that was one gigantic tease.  Because now we're back in the single digit temperatures, and what is this I hear of snow and ice this weekend?  Seriously?  
Long gone are the days of calling work off.  I don't get to call snow days because, well, I don't run this office.  So when the boss says come in, I do have to come in.  In the icky weather.  Yuck.  But this is adulthood.  I miss snow days and being a kid, getting all excited about the weather being crappy and not having to go to school.  Now I see it is going to sleet and I think "great, now we have to deal with stupid drivers on the road and it'll take me two hours to get to work."  Winter.  Please stop it.  
I am taking suggestions on warm places to relocate.  I'm thinking Arizona, but I'm open to suggestions.  Regardless, I'm itching to get out of the house, get this stir crazy little kid out of the four walls and get some fresh air.  Because I may just lose my freaking mind.  Or have I already?
It is Friday tomorrow, and I'm totally pumped for that, but....I'm totally not cool with what we have ahead of us.  At least being snowed in will give me plenty of time to write, right?  
Speaking of writing....if you're looking for some good reads, here are some of my latest articles:
Taco Bell for Breakfast?  
Florida Lawmakers Renew Stand your Ground Law
Indiana Rape Law Denies Victim Chance to Press Charges

Getting back to it

I have let myself slip.  The holidays and availability of snacks at the new job have caused me to slip.  Darn it, Nain.  I've found myself creeping up on the scale and it's time to lay the smack down on my diet.  
My new job has many perks one of them being a kitchen full of snacks.  Free snacks, and working at a desk for eight hours, I have kind of let myself go.  I mean, yeah, don't get me wrong, I didn't gain all 30 pounds back but seven pounds?  Not okay with Nain.  So that means the food logs are back out, and the food logs? Well, they kind of suck.  However, it is a necessary evil.  And they keep me accountable.
It has been hard finding time to exercise in that this new position requires me to be at work just a little earlier than my previous job.  That and hitting the snooze button when the alarm goes off at 5:20 a.m. is just too tempting.  One good thing is a perk of my new job is having a free membership to the gym located at the basement level of the building.  So I have managed to pull off some lunch-time workouts, but those can be difficult when it comes to someone who sweats like a whore in church when running.  Nobody wants to see that.  It is why I run in solitude in my basement.  It just is not pretty.
However, I do have a race coming up.  I'll be running in a 4 mile St. Patrick's Day race in just a few weeks, and I better get my out of shape, seven additional pounds butt in gear.  
Yes, it is just seven pounds, but it is so easy to say "oh, it's just an extra pound or two" and before you know it, it's ten or more.  
This could not come at a worse time for me either.  We are approaching Easter candy season, the best candy of the year.  But I must remain strong.  Stay strong, Nain.  I may need to get myself back into Motivation Mondays but for now, I'll just call it internal motivation.  
Stay strong, Nain.  Stay strong. 

My Grandpa

This Saturday is a very special day - it's my Grandpa George's birthday.  I swear, it doesn't seem real sometimes that he's really gone.  There isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss him.  It's weird, too, because it will come out of completely nowhere.  I'll think of something and that thought sparks a memory that maybe involves my Grandpa and then this immense wave of sadness just washes over me.  I know he's in a better place, and I know he's back with the love of his life, both of them watching on us from heaven.  But I miss him.
Aubrey has this weird thing when she sees pictures of him.  She'll talk to him and point and say "Papa!" and then babble like she has something really important to tell him.  She wanted to put his picture that I had up in the den in her bedroom so the picture is now sitting on top of her dresser.  I have a picture of him and I dancing at the wedding, and she'll point to it and go "Mommy, Papa."  The other day she picks the picture up off the table, brings it to me, points and says "Mommy and Papa" and then kisses the picture twice before handing it over to me and running off.  Talk about pulling at Mommy's heart strings, right?  
His birthday, the 22nd, just so happens to also be what was Aubrey's due date.  She was born just months after he passed away so he never got to meet her, but I know he would love her.  It is a special time, this time of year because I celebrate two very important people in my life - my little girl and her guardian angel.  
Happy birthday up in heaven, Grandpa.  We all miss you and love you.  And Aubrey says "Hi, Papa!," too.  

Birthday recap

My little girl is 2.  It's so hard for me to believe that I have a full-blown toddler, but it's true.  I do.  She had a pretty good birthday weekend, which was my goal.  She may not remember her 2nd birthday, but I will so that is all that counts, right?
Saturday was her actual birthday so we decided to just spend it the three of us together.  Indianapolis has a fairly good Children's Museum, and yeah...we were worried about taking her there after the disastrous attempt we had at the Ann Arbor Children's Museum, we decided to brave it.  And the little girl totally geeked out. She was all over the place.  They have this awesome Playscape area for preschoolers, and she hit the water table right away.  I think hands down that is her favorite area in any museum.  Or at least that is my experience.  But we let her do what she wanted, and she was running all over that area from exhibit to exhibit, not sure which one to do first.  It was so much fun getting to see her explore.  We were only there for a couple hours because, of course, we did hit the nap time down slide towards the end, but she had a blast and so did Tim and I.  We headed for home, hoping she'd get a good nap in, other than the cat nap she took in the car but....not so much.  She got her presents from Mom and Dad in the afternoon, and I think I did pretty well in terms of gifts this year.  We don't do much, but she LOVES to read and at school they do this series called Alpha Tales, which I had no idea what it was until I saw the set at Half-Priced Books.  It's 26 books, one for each letter, and she flipped out when she saw it.  It had to be opened immediately as she pulled each book out excitedly saying the letter for the book.  She also got some play food and dishes, but hands down, the books were the hit.  She had spaghetti for dinner and of course, a cupcake`to celebrate.  The look on her face was priceless when we sang to her.  I love that she knows it's her birthday now, but she also says happy birthday to everything else, too....Mommy, Daddy, her puppy....it's cute.
The next day we headed up to my parent's house for a family celebration.  After a major exorcism outside of a Bob Evans restaurant during a ill-advised breakfast out with the kid, we had a good day.  She loves playing with her cousins and grandparents and it was a good celebration.  Definitely a lot more low key than last year, but I'm good with that.  Honestly, I'd rather enjoy the time with my little girl than worry about whether Subway is going to deliver the sandwiches on time to her party like last year.  The memories we made this year were so much better.  
So here's to another year with our little girl.  It is so amazing to look at the pictures of when she was one and see how much she has changed.  (I say this, of course, not having posted pictures....), and how much she has grown up.  She's talking a storm, knows 22 of her 26 letters, knows objects, colors, numbers...I mean the kid saw a picture of an octopus the other day, pointed at it and said "O!"  I have a feeling the next year is going to bring a lot for us - good and tough (note I don't say bad....but I am well aware that a two-year-old is not always "good").  
So onto the next birthday....wait, no, that's mine.  Yeah, let's just skip over that one....celebrating a kiddo's birthday is so much more fun anyway.

Happy birthday, Aubrey!

On Saturday someone very special turns two years old.  She was my Valentine and is and always will be the most special gift I could ever receive.  So in honor of both Valentine's Day and her birthday, I've created this little slideshow.  It still tears me up watching it because it is amazing how much she has changed and how far she's grown.  She's our big girl, and she amazes us every day and always will.  Happy birthday, sweet girl.  Your Mommy and Daddy love you so very much.

This slideshow design generated with Smilebox I will also be linking this up with the Valentine's Day Spin Cycle - stop by Gretchen's and Ginnie Marie's and see what others have to share!

New job update

I have been with the new job now for over two weeks, hence my lack of posts.  I've been really working hard to learn everything and adjust to this new normal.  I cannot really give details into what I am doing exactly I am doing, mostly because with this new job, a whole new level of confidentiality is needed and well...I try to keep those two realms separate.  But suffice it to say that it is completely different from what I was doing, very challenging, but I am really enjoying it so far.  So it is going very well.  I just have less time to do other things during the day, you know, like things I probably should not have been doing but did any way.  So writing is limited to my lunch hour which is normally spent working on freelance stories.  So I have been busy busy busy.

Last week was spent traveling for work, which only reminded me of one thing - I hate traveling in the winter.  Flights getting bumped back to the point where we've missed our connecting flight and have to switch flights and run through large airport terminals to make them.  We got there, and we got back.  But man...flying in winter?  It's for the birds.

You will have to stay tuned for the end of this week because guess who is turning 2 on Saturday?  And I have a special surprise in honor of her birthday to share with all of you.  She's very pumped, singing "happy birthday to me!" I cannot believe she's going to be two.  It is still just hitting me.  But I am pretty damn proud of what I created in honor of her birthday so come by on Friday!  She will always be my favorite Valentine's present ever.

Short update, I know, but...it's an update!

Because she's 2...

Well, she's not yet two, but it sure feels like it!  Adventures in nap time with Aubrey this weekend...let's go to Saturday...

I did the routine, trying to stay in there with her so she fell asleep.  I say the rosary while she lays there and try to be as quiet as can be.  Yeah, didn't work.  I finished an entire rosary, and she was still up.  So I say, okay, just leave.  I exercise and come back upstairs and hear a loud crash and "uh-oh!"  I run upstairs and there lies her humidifier on the floor, pulled off the dresser, water everywhere and the thing is broken with pieces of plastic all over.  She somehow figured out how to open the diaper pale and has the little round puck of baking soda we put in the bottom of it in her mouth.  (It's plastic and isn't edible but still), with clothes from her dresser everywhere.  I look at her and said "what did you do???"  She bends down on the floor with me as I try to pick up the broken humidifier babbling, but I did catch a "Daddy fix it." Oh, honey, Daddy can't fix this one."  I am just glad she didn't hurt herself but....no nap and she broke a piece of machinery.  

Sunday we try putting her down.  She had been fussy all morning and not feeling well so I thought surely she'd go down.  No.  I tried staying in there but she kept talking to me so I left.  I went downstairs to run, and T says he hears her open and close the closet door, which is a first for her because she's never done this...she proudly exclaims "I did it!  Aubrey did it!" and is talking and banging the door stop awhile before it gets quiet.  We go up there to just get her up because clearly she wasn't going to sleep.  We push the door back, her blanket and pillow and a Christmas dress (I think this was her proud acquisition in the closet), blocking the door way.  Random clothes from the dresser and toys from the closet.  But no Aubrey.  So we find her here.

In the corner of the bedroom between the rocking chair and dresser.  And she somehow managed to pull the clock off the dresser, too, and was snuggled with that and puppy and butterfly. This was her bedroom...

I guess she just gave up and passed out.  I had to take pictures, though.  Note we do not have anything at all on our bookshelves.  It's all hidden in the closet.  But she's just recently figured out how to open doors so we've now purchased one of those kid-proof door locks.  We could put her in a padded room, and I still think she'd find something to mess with.  
But she slept.  Eventually, right?
And she's two....and quite the handful.

Parenthood

You know...it only takes just a few hours before everything turns from fabulous to...well....shit.  Such was the case Saturday night.  T gets home, we head to bed and lay there talking about the day when we hear a knock coming from Aubrey's room.  And then a cough.  And then the sound of it.  Puking.  
Shit.
T says he never saw me jump up into action so quickly.  The poor girl.  I'm not sure what hit her, but she couldn't stop getting sick.  I always swore that I would never be able to stomach seeing someone else's vomit before I had a kid.  Now, as a mom, I find myself trying to catch it with my hands and getting throw up on without batting an eye.  The poor kid.  The thing that broke my heart was she had no idea what was going on and was just freaking out.  I knew right around the third time she got sick that I wasn't going anywhere.  So I had T get me a blanket and pillow and I laid with her on the floor holding the bucket for her.  She eventually fell asleep around 1:30 as I tossed and turned.  Sleeping on the floor at almost 33-years-old?  Yeah....pain.
She woke up sometime around 5:00 and for some reason decided to go near the nightlight and lay down there and slept for a bit, and then before I knew it she was laying on my pillow, quickly pushing me off of it.  We slept some more.  She woke me up around 6:00 a.m. in a much much better mood "Be up, Mommy!"   So with that, she was fine.  And with that and for the rest of the day, T and I both felt like something ran us over.  
There are times when being a parent is the most amazing thing in the world, and then there are times where you're like "really?  this sort of sucks..."  Last night was one of those nights.  And it's not the sucks in that I didn't get sleep thing.  It's the "this sucks" because someone I love and someone who had no idea what was going on was so scared and not feeling well.  And all she wanted was her Mommy.  That part, I love, but I sure as hell didn't love the situation.  
Parenthood.  One of the biggest blessings but equally most challenging these I have ever done in my life.

Nain night

Tonight I'm on my own.  Well, not really on my own....Aubrey is upstairs sleeping, or at least she should be sleeping but I'm pretty sure she hasn't stayed in her bed.  Or she is sleeping in front of her door like she's done so many times.  Anyway, like I said...I'm on my own tonight.   Some Nain time.  I cooked myself a meal I know that T would never in a million years eat, am propped up on the couch with some wine and chocolate watching my favorite show of all time, Gilmore Girls.  Season one to be exact.  Oh how I realize how much I miss this show.  Seriously, I own every season on DVD, and back in the day I would watch it over and over and over.  I haven't had a night like this since....well....since law school or so.  This is actually my thing.  Whenever I'd have my "down" time, after studying all day on the weekends, I'd watch some Netflix or some of my Gilmore Girls with some wine and just hang out.  Yeah, I led a while life then, I really really did.  But it's kind of nice.  
Now where is my husband, you ask? Oh he's out drinking with my brother.  At a beer festival at the fair grounds no less.  I encouraged him to take a night off with him having to take the brunt of Aubrey with this job change.  They ride the 45 minute commute together both ways, and this week he'll be on his own for 3 nights as I'm traveling to Texas for work.  Austin, Texas.  First time in the Lone Star State and well...hopefully my last.  It takes all I have in me to bring my Democrat butt down there.  (Ha, sorry, I kid, I kid...)  Anyway, he'll be on major Daddy duty this week so he deserves that guy's night.  
I did make the mistake of taking Aubrey out in public on my own.  Let me just preface it by saying my kid is really really busy.  I mean all over the place and uber defiant and stubborn.  AND let me say that I have enormous respect for single moms especially those in the toddler phase.  Mad mad props for them.  We ventured out so I could get some books for the trip at Half-Priced Books, picking some up for her b-day, and then Target to get Daddy some Valentine's gifts.  Both times were....interesting.  I now understand why some people do the leash thing with their kids.  And then I also have a whole appreciation for sample day at Target.  "Look, Aubrey, eat these chips!"  That gives me about 5 minutes...but anyway, we came, we saw, we conquered.  But seriously, single parents?  You are super heroes.
I am completely rambling in this post so I'll wrap it up.  It's actually taken me like 4 hours to type it out.  So much for focusing.  I have a post to write about the new job and I love it, but I am too tired...and too focused on Gilmore Girls to type. 
The big difference in how I feel right now and how I felt when I used to do this before?  It's not even 10 p.m. and I could so go to bed...God, I'm old....