Girlymama

Last week, my mom took my kids with her to Ohio for 2 days, so Husband and I could attend his Grandma’s funeral without two toddlers in tow.  So, as a unexpected side effect, we had from Wednesday noon until Thursday night at home. Alone. With no kids.
On Wednesday, I went to Husband’s office and had lunch with him in the cafeteria and got a tour of his workplace (including the giant freezer set up for his cadaver lab that afternoon – yuck. tmi!). We spent the night in – our first night, our first time ever in our house without our kids. Then Husband took the next day off and we had all day together. Alone. With no kids. All day.
It was wonderful relaxing fantastic… I can’t describe it. It was like we were newlyweds again.  We just had so much fun. We went out to lunch, ran errands and just relaxed at home. We cuddled on the couch and watched an entire movie without being interrupted. It was like all of the stresses of the past few months just melted away and we were ‘us’ again.
So, despite the stress of life, kids, finances and families, we can still have fun together. We still have that spark that brought us together in the first place. I worry about that sometimes – that we’re so focused on our kids and the goings-on of daily life that we’ll be one of those couples who have nothing except their kids and once their kids leave, they discover they have nothing in common anymore. 
I think we need to get away more often. Or send our kids away more often. Either one works for me.

“I need a decompression chamber I can use when I come home from work.  You know, like divers have when they are going between two different atmospheres so they don’t shock their systems. I could go into the chamber and then you could s-l-o-w-l-y turn up the volume until I’m ready for the kids.”

How can getting my brows waxed make me look/feel like a new woman?

They must have been really bad before and I just didn’t realize…..

Since I can now post pictures on my blog once again,* I wanted the first to be of our spectacular Christmas gift, a piano that was handmade by my grandfather. Kids are banging on it daily, I’m trying to remember what years of lessons taught me. (which is, sadly, not very much. I can play songs I once had memorized, but new songs are stumping me!) Above it is a charcoal sketch of our kids, Husband and my Christmas gift to each other (along with wireless internet. Can you stand the romance? Is it making you sick? ;-).

 
Notice the picture frames and the tablas on top of the piano. I do not like this. I’m very unsure about having the tablas there. Does it look as strange as I think it does? What the heck are you supposed to put on a piano?

*Please do not be impressed. I did not figure out anything, technologically speaking. I just bought more memory space with WordPress.  I caved. And since I can now post pictures, how’s this for cuteness?

everything. I know. You were waiting for that, weren’t you? Go ahead. Snicker at my expense. Laugh at me trying to whip my post-two-baby-body back into shape.  I’ll be the one laughing at you when I’m looking hot 😉

Jeez, I’m pooped. And its only January 3rd….

I was thinking about my resolutions and stuff this morning, and I realized that there are some thing I am really, really looking forward to this year.

1. Traveling. I love traveling, seeing new things, going strange, exotic places that most people are afarid of (cough, sister-in-law, cough). Just love it. And we used to do it a lot, but then we had kids and they were little and we have no money, blah blah blah. But this year, we are traveling. A lot. We’re headed out to California and Disney in April, I’m going on my girls’ trip to Hilton Head in May, we’re going to the Jersey shore for a week in June, and… we’re going to India in November. I am so, so excited not just to leave the country for awhile, but to see India (where my husband was born). I’m actually going to see the Taj Mahal. Really.

2. Potty training Little Sis. Well, its not the actual potty training I am not looking forward to, but having no more diapers in our house will be very exciting!!

3. My kids in school. Next fall, I will have both girls in school for two mornings a week. Ahhh… freedom. (Although, who am I kidding? I’ll probably just clean.)

4. Getting a shed. Boring, I know. But we are getting a shed in the spring. We currently have zero outdoor storage, so everything (lawn mower, Husband’s bike) ends up on our deck or in the mudroom. Which drives me crazy.

5. Life. What can I say? Life is good. I adore my family. I am incredibly blessed. I just love living my life!

…we keep saying to the kids. After Christmas, then being hauled off to Grandma’s with no parents (Did I mention that we enjoyed 36 hours with no kids? I didn’t? Humm… I must have been too buys sleeping.) So our kids are a bit… crazy? Whiny? Out-of-control? Not sure what the most appropiate word is there. But they are acting a bit nuts these last few days, so its time to crack down and get them back into their routines.  That’s always fun.
Little Sis in particular is extremely whiny. And one of my biggest, most enormous pet peeves is whiny kids. And I am now living with one. Any suggestions?

On an unrelated, but interesting, note, the girls were quite sad to see the Christmas tree go, since they wanted to keep it up “forever!” But they have reconciled the fact that Christmas is over. Now its time to look forward to other things. Like Easter. They are now obsessed with Easter. “Can we get pink eggs, Mama?” “Where is my Easter basket?” “Can we have Easter candy?” “Do all eggs have candy inside them, Mama?”
Yeah. We are so not telling them we are going to Disney until we are in the parking lot, tickets in hand with Cinderella’s castle in full view. Maybe not even then.

Does anyone else feel like they make the same few resolutions every year? Because I think I do. Every year I resolve to:
1. Exercise.
2. Read my Bible more.
3. Take my vitamins. (I am really bad about this.)
And every year, things seem to dwindle down to the point where I need to resolve the same thing again by December. This year I did really well with exercise – until like… August. And I am once again doing my week-long Bible Study in one day and I can’t remember my last vitamin. So, this year – once again – I resolve to:
1. Exercise. More. This means doing more than just 20 minutes of Pilates a few times a week. This means occasional aerobic (ugh) exercise. Plus Pilates. Because I love Pilates. This starts tomorrow with kickboxing. This should be quite entertaining for ya’ll.
2. Eat healthy. Ever since the Halloweeen candy made its appearance…… No more candy! No  more cookies! I mean it! Really! I’m serious!
3. Read my Bible more.  Not just for my Bible Study homework, but reading outside that. And doing my homework well, not just rushing through.
3. Take my vitamins.
4. Not to waste so much time. I do that way too often. I need to plan better. And not watch tv until my work is done. And get sleep so I have energy that doesn’t come from caffeine. And haul my butt into bed at a reasonable hour so that I can haul it back out when I need to.
5. Be more intentional in my parenting. Read some books. Give more thought to how I am handling things here. Instead of just flying by the seat of my pants so much 😉

Well, surprise! We’re actually in Ohio right now. Husband’s grandmother died on Christmas Day, so we were out in Western PA for the funeral yesterday. We’re recovering at my mom’s house today, taking lots of naps and relaxing after a emotionally draining day.  We did still have a nice Christmas with our families and our kids, of course, had a blast.

I’ll post when we get home!

Full house – lots of family – busy crazy busy!  I’m sure I’ll have some good stories next week 😉

Merry Christmas!!!