Motivation Monday: New Year Edition

 

So technically this isn't the first Motivation Monday of the year, and I was going to do one of those end of the year posts but decided otherwise.  This Motivation Monday is all about goals for the new year.  Not resolutions because those are too easily broken.  But goals. 

 

 

My first goal is to spend more time with my family.  T and I are making it a point to do at least one date night a month so we can spend some time just the two of us.  Too often we get so caught up in the week, work, day-to-day stuff, so we're making it a point to spend more time together as well as more time as a family on the weekends.  Despite the fact that snow storms suck, being stuck at home has been really nice just getting to play around with Aubrey and T.  I'd like to have more time to do things like that.

 

 

My second goal is organization.  I keep telling my staff "2013 is the year of organization!"  I'm not an organized person by any means, and it's catching up with me at work, at home, with Mary Kay.  So I have asked T for help, and together we are going to make me more organized.  He's even put together a handy dandy spreadsheet for me so that I'm not scrambling come tax time like I will be this year.  And utilizing my planner at work and maybe, just maybe, experimenting with the online calendar thing so that my staff actually knows what I'm doing and where I am, not left to wonder because I failed to write down in the office calendar what was in my personal one.  (I'm notorious for this.)  My desk at home looks like a landmine hit it, and my office one isn't much better.  I know it'll be a process, but I want to get it started.  2013 is the year of organized Nain. 

 

 

I want to maintain my weight loss, not necessarily lose more weight.  Keep up the good eating and healthy habits that I have already started and make it a point to keep those going. 

 

 

Lastly, my Mary Kay business.  I've run it for 3 years, but I'm still not running at a profit like I'd like.  I'm facing a bit of a "make it or break it" year.  If I can't get it to the point where I'm feeling comfortable and making the time and effort profitable, I think I will need to pull the plug at the end of the year.  And I don't want to do that.  So I'm going to schedule more appointments, try to reach out to my current clients and make new ones.  I'm going to do all that I can and bust my butt so that come December I won't be closing shop.  I enjoy being a part of Mary Kay too much to do that. 

 

 

 

So those are my goals for the new year.  And I'm motivated to get started.  So let's do this...2013, bring it on!

 

And I am retroactively linking up to Gretchen at Second Blooming's Spin Cycle.  Stop by and see what other goals people have for the New year!

 

     

Sick little girl

I know they say it's a good thing that kids go to daycare and get sick because they do develop an immune system, and that's all well and good.  But the constant getting sick thing gets old.  And I find myself resenting other mothers in Aubrey's room who clearly bring their very sick child into daycare so that he/she can infect every other baby in there.  Thus was the case with our Christmas.  Said child was brought into daycare the Thursday before Christmas break.  We saw the kid and the mother leaving the kid in the room.  And I swear I remember saying to T, "Aubrey better not get sick."  Well...poor little girl has been coughing and stuffy for well over a week.  Coughing all through the night to the point where she makes herself cry.  I imagine it hurts after awhile.  So I took her to the doctor today after the cough turned into wheezing.  My Mommy instinct was telling me something was up and that it was more than just a "cold." 

 

 

So I now have a sick little (teething) girl who has croup and two bad ear infections.  I hate croup.  We have a humidifier going in her room, her head propped up on a pillow, you name it, but she coughs.  All...freaking...night.  And other than putting her in a steaming room or in somewhere cold, there is no other remedy. 

 

 

With the New Year, we'll be bringing Miss Aubrey to see an ENT because this is now her fifth ear infection (second double ear infection).  My money is on the fact we'll be getting tubes in her ears in 2013.  It'll be Aubrey's turn to rack up the high medical bills.  (I wonder if 2014 will be T's year?) 

 

 

I had a scare later this evening, too.  Remember her incident at the E.R. with intussuseption?  She suddenly woke from her afternoon nap screaming, very similarly to when she had that.  And I swear years were added to my life as I held onto my screaming child, praying that the pain would subside.  I believe she just felt like all over crap, but my heart stopped just thinking about having to take her to the E.R. 

 

 

However, my heart did melt this evening, as I was rocking Aubrey to sleep before bed.  She was eating her bottle, lights off in the room with the noise machine on, and I leaned in to kiss her forehead and said "I love you so much, sweetie."  She pushed the bottle out of her mouth, looked me right in the eye and grabbed my cheek, leaning in and kissing me.  It's moments like those that make all of those times where I get a few extra gray hairs from worrying about her so worth it. 

 

 

God, I love that little girl, croup and all.

       

 

Aubrey's First Christmas

It's been a busy few days what with snow storm Euclid and Aubrey's first Christmas, but I have managed to upload pictures from our holiday.  We had a wonderful Christmas, spending time with my family on Christmas Eve, just the three of us Christmas Day and then T's parents arrive tomorrow.  They were supposed to arrive today, but with the foot of snow we got today, those plans were delayed.  But, here are the pictures! 

 

 

Mommy and Aubrey waiting to open presents.  I actually got Aubrey to look up at the camera.  This was a feat in and of itself.

 

 

Opening toys from Grandma.  We got so many toys we don't know what to do with all of them!

 

Daddy and Aubrey ready for church.  God, I love her in this dress...

Mommy and Aubrey.  Our camera can't do pictures with things in motion too well, but she's waving at the camera...

Christmas 2012 family picture  

After church, we had to feed her, so that meant off with the dress.  This is her new thing that my sister taught her.  She goes "oh my!" and puts her hands up on her head.  It's too funny. 

 

After she got a quick bite to eat, we stopped at my parent's neighbor's party, got her Christmas jammies on and headed home. We drove around our neighborhood for a bit and looked at the lights, hoping we could get her to sleep, but the poor thing was so sick over the past few days and couldn't stop coughing. So we ended up heading home for Santa to arrive...

 

She has a small tree in her bedroom, so we put a small gift in there for her to open when she first got up.  She was so excited when we brought her downstairs.  So many things to touch, she didn't know where to start.

Mommy and Aubrey opening up gifts.  She loved her Elmo cell phone Santa brought her.

Gifts from T's family out East...

Santa brought her a riding toy!  She's still a little small for it, but she liked it.

We made a big breakfast, pancakes, eggs, bacon, and Aubrey got to try pancakes for the first time.  I think she enjoyed them...

Afterwards we played with toys for the rest of the day.  She got this activity/ball table where you put the balls up at the top of this table, push a button and this thing starts playing music that I can only compare to some kind of video game music you would hear at the arcade at the bowling alley, and the platform on top rises, spilling the balls everywhere.  She loves this thing.  And I crack up every time it plays because it's like fist-pumping music. 

 

In between naps, T and I managed to pull off a big Christmas dinner.  T made an awesome honey-glazed ham, and we enjoyed some mulled wine and just laid around all day.  It was glorious.  Of course, we laid around the next day too with the snowmageddon 2012, so for two days in a row we got some good, qualify family time in.  Great first Christmas!

   

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!  Now to work on one of those "year recap" posts.... 

     

 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!  Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday, enjoying time with family and friends!  Love, Nain, T and Aubrey

 

 

         

A Night Out

Not having a computer at home sure has made keeping up with blog posting extremely difficult.  I've been meaning to post these pictures forever, but...better late than never, right?

 

 

 

So last weekend T and I got some adult time.  We planned our annual celebration going downtown to have a night on the town.  My sister watched Aubrey for us, so we headed down early to walk around and check out the holiday decorations and just hang out.  So of course, that involved a trip to the Monument on the Circle.  He we are at the very spot where T proposed:

 

 

We hit up the South Bend Chocolate Factory for some delicious ho cho and just people watched for awhile.  It has a nice view, and I never pass up some nice dark hot chocolate made with Silk.  Well, I mean, it would have been better with Mint Chocolate Silk, but...

We had reservations to stay at the Omni, and we checked in early to relax some before heading out.  So we checked in, got our room key and headed to our room on the sixth floor.  Key worked just fine, but when we walked in the room we saw luggage, coats, and other items indicating that clearly someone was already staying in this room.  It was kind of funny, but at the same time, I had to think "does this happen a lot?  How many times have we stayed somewhere and someone has accidentally gotten in our room?"   So we headed back to the front desk, totally not pissed at all, and nicely told the lady there had been some mistake.  Seriously, we could have cared less because we were in no hurry and you know, accidents happen.  They were so apologetic and upgraded our room, gave us free breakfast buffets for the next day, and then had room service send this up to us:

 

 

That's water, a thing of popcorn and two local brews from Upland Brewery.  And apparently they are mind readers and new I like porter.  And it came with another apology note.  I mean, they totally didn't have to do that, but I never turn down free (good) beer!

 

 

Here's us all dressed up.  We clean up nicely, don't you think?  It's amazing how much time you have to dedicate to actually getting ready when you don't have a crying 10 month old in the background.

 

We hit the Claddaugh Irish Pub and ate entirely too much (my "off" day for the diet), and we decided to walk it off.  Pretty, isn't it?

I swear this diet is making it so much harder for me to consume too much of anything.  Even after the walk, the thought of drinking a beer was just too much.  So we kind of relaxed and holed up at the Slippery Noodle Inn, which is a jazz bar, the oldest bar in Indiana.  Listened to some music, watched some old men try to score with these two young blond girls, watched the young blond girls flirt with them enough to get free drinks.  It looked like one of the guys was getting somewhere at one point.  There was hair twirling and she was laughing at everything he said, but he must have said something stupid, as is so usual with most men, because he left alone.  But it was still very entertaining.  Almost more so than the music, actually. 

 

These two old people managed to make it until midnight.  Oh gone are the days when we could actually stay out until closing time.  On the way back to our hotel, we did get to see two rather intoxicated douches get arrested.  That was fun.  It was great just getting spend time with T, just the two of us, not worry about a thing and just hang out.  I think in the new year, this is something we definitely need to do more often. 

 

 

So that was our little Christmas celebration!  I have Santa pictures of Aubrey to post, and I definitely will post them this weekend.  I get the new laptop today!  (Yay!)  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

   

Inadequate

Everyone has their own faults.  No one is without them.  But me...sometimes I feel like a huge part of who I am is a fault.  That sounds harsh as I write this, but it's something that has been weighing on my mind lately.  My faults. 

 

 

When T and I first started dating, and I slowly started to get to know him, I saw how organized and put together he was.  Seriously, this guy had his shit together.  Almost to an anal retentive level, but it was something that made me jealous.  Organization.  With me, I am the epitome of disorganization.  Everything is a cluttered mess.  My house is clean, don't get me wrong.  When you walk into our house, it's pretty clear of clutter, but it's not the house per se.  It's things like my purse, my dresser drawers, my car, my office, my desk at home...there's just no rhyme or reason.  It's not for trying either.  I'll get something cleaned out and all organized, I'll be all proud and then a week later, it's back to the clutter and disorganization. 

 

 

Aubrey's dresser is the same way.  I try to fold them neatly but they always seem to get messed up when I pick outfits out for her.  Our linen closet, our pantry, etc.  T will complain, I'll feel bad and organize it.  But then I can't keep it that way.  It's not I purposefully do it.  It's just how I am.  I think it's a lack of being careful.  I'm klutzy, I do things quickly so that it is done but not necessarily don't perfectly.  But I feel just awful about it sometimes. 

 

 

I always say "Okay, I'm dedicating time for this," but the tasks are huge and many.  And the time is limited.  But I add them to my "to do list" and there they stay. 

 

 

They say opposites attract, but I have to admit that I do worry about how much it gets to T.  He would shake his head and tell me I'm wrong if I say this, but I feel like a disappointment at times.  He took me for who I am, for better or for worse, but what if the "for worse" are the things that feel like dominate?  I brought debt into the marriage, I can't organize to save my life, and my money skills are limited at best.  I just feel like I fail. 

 

 

I don't mean to be a downer, and really, this is me being about as open and honest as humanly possible.  I guess that's the whole point of having your own blog.  It's what you do with those honest thoughts that matters.  Perhaps this is a new years resolution that needs to be made.  Perhaps I need to hire one of those personal organizers.  Or take it one thing at a time.  Who knows? 

 

 

But for now, that's what I see.  Inadequacies. 

   

Light distractions

Quick.  Someone tell me what to write about.  Sitting here, Monday night, trying to think of something...anything to write about.  All I can think of is "damn, my throat hurts, I don't feel well, my head hurts and I better not be getting sick."  And then my mind wanders to the tragedy from last week and the heartbreaking news that two of the little boys that were murdered last Friday were buried today.  And I'm worried about the fact I have a hearing and will be in court since forever.  All heavy thoughts.  So I need some positivity. 

 

 

So thinking about what things make me happy...the first thing I'm currently enjoying right now.  Silk Chocolate Mint. Hot.  It's pretty delicious.  And it makes me feel pretty damn good, helping the sore throat just a tad. 

 

 

Kisses from my girl.  And playing with her.  Just the little things.  I had her on the floor in her nursery tonight, and she would toss a diaper out of her diaper box, I would throw the diaper back in, she would look at me and smile and throw it right back out, I threw it back in, we both giggle and so on.  Memories I will always cherish. 

 

 

Laughing with T over inside jokes, no matter how inappropriate. 

 

 

Resting my head on T's shoulder as he puts his arm around me. 

 

 

Excitement over the fact that tonight is, in fact, the series finale of Gossip Girl.  It is being recorded on DVR as I type.  Yes, I am that girl.  Deal with it. 

 

 

Brian Williams.  I heart Brian Williams. 

 

 

Christmas cards - I love this time of year, that we get mail that doesn't make me sad or freak out over the "balance due." 

 

 

Silk Chocolate Mint.  Damn.  It's good. 

 

 

So those are just a few things.  No, it doesn't take away the weight of all of the hardships out there.  But it's the little things.  They keep you sane. 

 

 

Now let me enjoy the rest of my Silk Chocolate Mint.