iPhone Pictures

We didn't leave the house this weekend and it was all sorts of awesome. Some house rearranging happened and Natalie showed off her newfound somersaulting skills.

The many faces of an almost two-year-old.

The older she gets, the more I think she looks like me. And yes, I was very blond as a little girl.

Just taking a selfie with Momma. Cooking dinner with Daddy while I sat on the couch and drank wine.
This creature is not nearly as neglected as she tried to look in this photograph.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

Last year around this time Craig and I made a resolution for our family.  We chose a word to live by and we stuck to it.

Exist

2012 was the year that we existed.

But after the previous four years I needed one without any major life decisions.

2008 - began dating and bought a house

2009 - became engaged and began planning a wedding

2010 - got married in March and pregnant in June

2011 - gave birth to Natalie and struggled with PPD

So yeah.....I think we deserved a year off to just BE.  We loved on our pups and watched our daughter grow.  We fixed up the house and celebrated all sorts of fun milestones with friends.  

But what about 2013?  What word are we going to choose for our family to embrace this year?  I'd love to think it was something along the lines of PEACE or SIMPLICITY....

Unfortunately, I just have this gut feeling based on recent conversations that it's going to be another year of CHANGE.

Little pieces are beginning to fall in place and a clear picture of what 2013 holds for us is starting to form.

Among other things, I'll be turning 30 and Craig will turn 40.

Natalie is in the midst of transitioning from babyhood to full fledged toddler.

There are a host of other things that are being put on the table for me professionally and for our family personally.

Usually I'm terrified about any sort of change and adjustment but right now, I'm peaceful and calm.  I'm sure there will be moments of panic and sheer terror, but overall....I'm okay with what seems to be coming down the pipe because it all seems so pre-ordained, if you know what I mean?!

There have been professional and personal goals that I've had for myself but it just never seemed the RIGHT time.  Things just didn't fall into place the way I hoped they would and I told myself over and over that when it was right, it would happen.

And it's all happening this year.

Buckle up.

Working Momma

Come Monday morning, our beautiful two week vacation for the Christmas and New Year's holidays will be over and I will drop Natalie off at day-care and return to school.  Being a working mother is always a tightrope walk; trying to balance a long day of work full of responsibility with nurturing, parenting and loving a child into adulthood.....sometimes when you're absolutely wiped and devoid of any spare patience.

These are a few personal "rules" that I have institued into my own life in order to find some sort of workable balance that allows me to invest myself into the education of my students at school without neglecting my biggest responsibility - love Natalie and being her mother. 

Just a disclaimer - this works for ME as a teacher whose contract hours during a non-coaching season are from 8:15 until 4:15 but during that time in the day I am very scheduled with no real room for running errands or going to appointments.  Since I've never been in the corporate world, I can't specifically say how these would work on that level, but hopefully you will all be able to find something useful nonetheless.

1. When you're at work....do your work and when at home....BE at home.  It all goes back to what our teacher's told us during school - use your time wisely.  Do work at work so that when you get home, the computer can stay closed and you can spend time playing babies, trains and puzzles.  But for me it's more than just not bringing home tests to grade or creating lesson plans at 10:00 during Jon Stewart - it's the emotional aspect.  It's allowing a nasty email from a parent to weigh on my heart and mind which ultimately affects my mood and behavior at home with Natalie.  When we are together, Natalie deserves my loving attention and does not need to bear the brunt of my bad day at work - something that has nothing to do with her.

2. If possible, set a time limit and stick to it.  Even before I had a husband and child, I set this rule for myself - 5:00 was my usual deadline, with 5:30 if I had more papers or tests to grade.  I found that I worked more efficiently and productively if I imposed a time limit on myself by which I HAD to have a particular set of tasks completed.  It also helped me feel less overwhelmed by a large work load and instead with a time constraint I was able to focus and prioritize on what needed my immediate attention and what could be left until the next day.  Working repeatedly long hours wreaks havoc on your energy and psyche....and NO lesson plan or ungraded assignment is worth risking my mental health.

3. Plan ahead.  On Sundays Craig and I plan out our week - we sit down with the menu board and my planner and figure out what nights we will be home and what our commitments look like.  By doing this, I'm able to look forward and see when I will have to leave work early for a doctor's appointment or right at 4:25 to make it to Craig's basketball game on time.  This way I can more effectively manage my time at work and know when I need to have certain items prepared due to time constraints later in the week.  Sometimes parents get a bad rap at work because of the idea that we have to shirk duties due to an after school sports game or a sick child.  My thought process is that if I'm going to cut out early from work on one day, I better be making up for it some other time so that I am still being a functioning, competent and productive employee.

4. Designate a Family Night and make it a priority.  Sometimes between our school schedule, my personal volleyball league, Craig's select basketball practices and other social activities, our weekly calendar gets pretty jam-packed to the point where we haven't really talked until our heads hit the pillows.  Since MOST weeks our games and such are consistently on the same days, we are able to designate one certain evening as our Family Night.  Most of the time we don't do anything special - I cook a good meal, the television stays off for the most part and we sit up in the playroom and play babies, blocks, Legos, read books and pretty much whatever else Natalie wants us to do.  Even if you can't ensure that it's going to be the SAME night every week, try to pick one night a week where the outside world disappears and the only thing that matters are the people in your home.

5. Be flexible and enjoy the moment.  I'm definitely a person who revels in a schedule.  Bedtime with Natalie starts around 8:00 and involves jammies, putting her babies to bed, reading a book with Craig and then being rocked for about ten minutes before being placed in her crib.  And believe me....there are certainly days when we are counting down the minutes until we can kick off her bedtime routine just because it's been THAT kind of day.  But then there are the evenings when she is delightful and neither Craig nor myself are quite ready to put her to bed when 8:00 rolls around.  So we let her stay up a little later and enjoy her presence, forgetting the time and schedule.

Working and being a mother is always going to be tricky.  There will be sacrifice and there will be some sort of guilt.  But it can be done....and the family unit can thrive.

2012 In the Books

A few of my personal highlights from the past year....

In January we rescued a purebred black and tan dachshund named "Jax" but in keeping with the family tradition (Angie, Annabelle and Andy) we renamed him Ajax.  He is the perfect companion for my Angie - calm, sweet, gentle and the biggest lovebug.  Ajax is most certainly a Daddy's boy and is incredibly protective of Natalie....and he also puts up with her shenanigans.  The other day I walked into the playroom and Ajax was sitting patiently on the couch while Natalie "fed" him with a spoon from a saucer that belongs to her play kitchen.  He has been the most perfect blessing to our family.

Natalie turned one on March 8th and we had a small family oriented "St. Patty's Day" themed birthday party to celebrate.  It wasn't just a party honoring our little girl, but also a momentous achievement for Craig and myself - we survived the first year as parents.  I SURVIVED the first year as a mother.

And with any momentous occasion, it had to be documented and we bravely decided to take family pictures with Natalie and the two pups.

We did have my mother on hand to corral Angie, Ajax, Natalie......or Craig......depending on who was acting up at any point in time.

I swam through mud and jumped over fire........after running three miles.

I allowed my picture to be taken looking like this.

In April my sister-in-law (named Laura as well) and I completed the Warrior Dash together.  We made a good team - she was great on the obstacles while I was the runner.  We had some great chats along the way and encouraged each other the entire time.  It was a milestone for me because it felt like some sort of "reclamation" of my former self.  Even though I am Natalie's mother I am still ME and can do fun (and challenging) things.

Summer vacation this year was MUCH more fun than in 2011 when Natalie was an infant.  She was on a specific schedule and able to go and do lots of exciting things. 

 Somewhere along the way, she also developed a personality.

We discovered her love of the aquarium.....or maybe it was just her parent's love of air conditioning?!

We took our very first REAL vacation to San Antonio with some friends who have a daughter close in age to Natalie.  We hit up Sea World two days in a row and stayed a great resort that was hidden in the hills surrounding the city.

Happy to be on vacation and enjoying our little family.

The fall brought our annual trip to the State Fair and this year my parents joined us.  We were lucky enough to see Big Tex before the inferno.

This picture was taken on Halloween and it was the first time I saw the BIG girl that Natalie was quickly becoming.  Perhaps it's the way I dressed her....or maybe it's her body language but I realized at this point that we were rapidly exiting the baby stage and hurtling towards little girl-dom.

And the things that weren't photographed.....

Craig and I had a rough fall....there's no doubt about that.  Between a spontaneous, Natalie induced house remodel and numerous illnesses which culminated in an emergency surgery, there was a lot of stress that could have ignited some pretty intense fights.  But we buckled down and drew upon what is our greatest strength as a couple - our ability to function and work as a team.

I had a FABULOUS group of both 7th and 8th grade athletes this fall.  My seventh graders came to me with LOTS of previous volleyball knowledge and we were able to upset a few teams...namely my old school!  My eighth grade girls might not be the most technically proficient volleyball players but they are RUNNERS and despite a nasty flu virus eliminating two of our best runners, my girls were still able to hang onto a second place finish (out of fifteen schools) in the district cross country meet.

And in between all the BIG events were the seemingly inconsequential moments....the times we were just sitting around our house watching Natalie develop the ability to create and imagine.  Or seeing her relationship with her grandparents, aunts, uncles and other family friends blossom and grow - she is so genuinely excited to visit and play with all our loved ones.

Craig and I were also able to introduce Natalie to our love of all sporting events - from teaching her how to cheer on the swimming and track events during the Olympics to watching her run around the gym during volleyball practice while trying to shag all the balls.  She has developed into such a well-rounded little girl - she is equally excited about playing babies as she is throwing the ball around or playing with her cars and trains.  Reminds me of another little girl I used to know.

Because of Natalie's interest in flushing paper down the toilet, Craig and I got a spontaneous remodel on our living room and several rooms upstairs.  Of course she chose the best timing and did the damage during the first week of school, right smack dab in the middle of volleyball try-outs.  As most things do, it turned out to be a great blessing in disguise seeing as how I ended up being able to completely redecorate our living room which I had been yearning to do for some time.

And some of my favorite posts from the past year.

On all the parenting advice you might get.....but the only one that REALLY matters.

I reminisced and paid homage to one of the greatest influences in my life - my grandma.

Here's where I got seriously fed up with the supposed "Mommy Wars."

I tried to eliminate the word "perfect" from my vernacular.

A little light was shed into the heart of the struggle that comes along with PPD.

A whole lot of healing took place.

But sometimes that Mommy Guilt still got the best of me.

I became completely enamored with and fascinated by my daughter.

That one time when I cleaned out my closet and burst into tears.

Or that other time when I shut myself off from social media (and totally loved it).

And then there was that time when Natalie almost destroyed our house.

My husband showed true bravery.

I watched my little girl while she watched the world.....and I also learned the peace that is brought with slowing down.

Kids can do things.  Kids SHOULD do things.

Another year in the record books and a year in the life of La La blogged onto the interwebs.

Bye Bye Baby

I've got an "end of the year" wrap-up started in my head but finding the time (okay....the motivation) to put it onto paper...uh....the internet is a little exhausting right now.  But what's easy is to look at the growth of my little girl over the past year.  

We've graduated from baby bottles to sippy cups.

From onesies with socks to leggings and boots.

From crawling to walking to running and galloping.

My what a change in one year.

Delighting in her rocking horse last year and her pop-up play area this year.

Teeth and curls have grown in but those blue eyes and big grin are still the same.

She sits with purpose and strength....and is fully aware of what awaits her wrapped in those packages.

The bottle might have disappeared but Daddy's lap is still her favorite seat in the house.

Mega Christmas Round-Up

First off I'll start with the picture of Natalie that was sent out with our Christmas cards.  I'm still old school.....I buy actual cards, stick in a picture of Natalie and sign all our names on the inside.  Actually, I'm more cheap than old school because I buy all our Christmas cards for the next year the day after Christmas when they are mega discounted.

Regardless.

Here she is three months away from her second birthday.

And a few outtakes of our little photo session:

This one looks like a mugshot.

Here she is mauling Santa while Angie gets her nose in the picture.

And the new toddler "cheese" face she has debuted recently.

And here we are close to the end because she is juuuuuust about DONE with Momma taking pictures of her.

Christmas Eve Cookie Decorating

Craig and Natalie ready to bake and decorate sugar cookies for Santa.  Craig *might* be more excited about this activity than Natalie.

And when I say *might* I mean........Craig was SO pumped for this.  Seriously.  It was pretty adorable.

My big girl.

Lots of different kinds of fun sprinkles.

While the cookies were cooling all three of us got to decorate an ice cream cone to make into a Christmas tree.  Mine is in the back, Craig's is on the left and Natalie's on the right.....in case you couldn't tell which one was decorated by the almost two year old.

Serious dedication and concentration.

On a related note....a little tip for baking and decorating with small children?  Put a big beach towel down over the table or countertop before the activity starts.  That way all the mess lands on the towel and when you are done, just fold up the towel and shake the mess into the trashcan for super easy clean up!  

Oh.  And have two ravenous dogs roaming the floor so all the dropped pieces get cleaned up too.

The finished products!

Sitting by the Christmas tree for the requisite Christmas Eve photo-op.

And by the other tree in the living room.  I took SEVERAL of these photos and in every single one.....she had her little hand gripped tight around the branch of that tree.  Not sure why.

And we always have to leave a letter for Santa thanking him for his kindness.  

She does have impeccable handwriting if I do say so myself.  

Cookies and milk for Santa under the tree!

A little Christmas book reading before bedtime.

And then the stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

And this is the BIG gift that Santa brought Natalie!

Christmas Day!

A happy girl with her big surprise.

All the loot that Santa packed into her stocking.

The biggest hit of Christmas....the baby furniture.

And my personal favorite - Olivia and the Fairy Princess.

And then a Christmas to remember.....SNOW!  It started sprinkling down just a bit in the morning while I was making a breakfast casserole.

But by the time we made it to my parent's house at 3:30 the ground was completely covered.

Angie and Ajax frolicking in the snow.

Natalie checking things out.  She was very upset when the snow got on her shoes.  Can't blame her.

All four pups out exploring....all with the appropriate winter wear of course.

Merry Christmas everyone!!