Looking Back In Time

This month's BlogHer Book Club Selection, Here I Go Again by Jen Lancaster was a good read that made me stop and think about the person I was 20 some odd years ago.

My 20th reunion was this last Fall, and it was amazing to see the same people I had lunch with everyday all sitting at the table with me for dinner.  Realizing how much had changed, how much was the same, and the people we were then and now made me see that high school really ended a long time ago.

Reading about Lissy Ryder's realizations about who she was, who she wasn't, and what needed to be changed, made me happy I surrounded myself with people I never wanted to lose touch with.  And thanks to Facebook and Twitter I still "see" them daily.

What do you remember about high school?  When you look back can you honestly see yourself and the things you did?

Take some time to read Here I Go Again and visit the BlogHer Book Club to join the conversation.  What do you REALLY remember about that time?



This is a sponsored review for the BlogHer Book Club. While compensation will be forthcoming for taking the time to write about the book, the opinions stated are all mine and mine alone.

 

He Naps, Therefore We Are

I have realized that we live for nap time.

I actually try to get some reading done.  A magazine or book.  I also made the biggest mistake of my life: solitaire on the Kindle Fire.

I have an addiction issue.  My hand has actually cramped from having to use my index finger to touch the screen.  I've tried using other fingers, but it's not the same.

So I bought a stylus.

Yup, issues.

My husband takes that time to catch up with the news online, read his email, and play some video games.

Some times we even turn on a show on Netflix, sit together on the couch, and he'll play on his iPhone while I play on the Kindle.

That is how we want to grow old together.  Side by side on the couch.  TV on with something that makes us laugh.  A board game or some electronic thing there to play together.

Maybe something like Uno.  Uno is something we can play while sitting and talking or watching TV.

We should be packing for our move.  We keep saying we will.

But while James naps, we are us for a little bit.

We need that every so often.

Unimpressed

During James' first year of life we had snow for 1 day.

Compared to the previous Winter this was nothing.  Luckily neither of us wanted to go anywhere with a baby in bad weather, so the lack of snow was actually a blessing of sorts.

Yesterday the first snow of 2013 came down.

And I mean it really fell.

  

And as you see above, I took James outside.

He kept looking up and around at things.  That tree is normally covered in leaves all Summer, and is his favorite to pull leaves from.  Seeing it like this had him staring.

I managed to make a small ball of snow to show him, and he touched it while it was in my hand.  But he felt the cold and wet and that was it.  This wasn't fun, and he had no interest in walking in it at all.

After that he was done and ready to go back inside.  I had interrupted some playing with blocks for this little adventure.

Next year I'm hoping to have a sled of some kind for when this happens.  I've never been sledding and the house has a huge yard.

Then we'll see if snow becomes something he enjoys playing in.

Testing the Fences for Weaknesses...Systematically

Is there anything that a child of 19 months think they cannot do?

The other day he tried to walk off the couch.

Not roll or slide, or even just scoot. 

He was standing, watching his daddy in the other room, and suddenly decided he wanted to be there and not on the couch with me.  So, James started to walk right off the edge.

I am apparently quicker than I thought I was.  Cat like reflexes.  That's me.

James hasn't quite gotten to the point where he can climb up on couches and chairs, but he tries.  He has also proven that he remembers things.

Yes, I've mentioned that before.  He has his apps and he knows how they work.

But now it's things that he hasn't had access to in almost a month.

You see, for Christmas he received a Transformers Optimus Prime Semi-Truck wagon to be able to pull his toys along.  It's not a deep wagon, but it's long, and all his blocks fit on it.

Our apartment does not have the room for all his new things, so it's been sitting near the balcony door, behind his Spider-man desk.

Yeah, I know.  We are seriously geeks in the worst way and he will know all these characters as he grows.

His wagon plays music and has voice recordings with some of Optimus's phrases.  There's a button on top of the cab of the truck that activates one set of noises.  He loves being able to push it, and there is no denying where it is.  It looks like a button to push.

There is another button that is masked in the grill of the truck.  As an adult, I can tell it's there and can push it with no problems.  James was shown this button by his daddy at Christmas, but he couldn't push it as easily, and was honestly hitting the wrong part of the grill.

It's been almost a month, and the wagon was pulled out to get access to the blocks it was carrying last night.  James immediately hit the easy to find button and played to his heart's content.

Then he stopped and sat in front of the truck and stared at the grill.

Using his thumb, he pushed on different areas to see what would happen.

He still can't find the right place to trigger the extra sounds.

But he remembers.

Such a smart little Velociraptor.

Wordless Wednesday: My Little Man

Working on Willpower

This month's book club selection, The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal, has managed to fall right into the time of the year when most people are trying to make a change.

I know I've talked about not calling it a "resolution", and that has worked for me pretty well when setting up to lose weight last year.  But I never did follow through with basic exercise, and I know that would have made the difference in the end.  And it all boiled down to not really have a set goal or challenge for myself.  I made it as easy as I could

In The Willpower Instinct, you start with setting a challenge for yourself and use that to work through what willpower is and what it means.

Am I going to try this?  Yup.  There is so much I want in 2013, and this is as good a place as any to start.

Wondering what will work for you?

Visit the BlogHer Book Club and look at what this book and author are trying to help you accomplish.  Join the conversation and who knows what will happen.  Maybe that will be your challenge: trying something new!


This is a sponsored review for the BlogHer Book Club. While compensation will be forthcoming for taking the time to write about the book, the opinions stated are all mine and mine alone.

Wordless Wednesday: He is Strong With the Force

He Knows What He Wants

Last month, my husband and I went to the movies and took my FIL with us.  Due to the length of The Hobbit, James got to spend a whole day with his great grandparents.

This is major because normally we try to arrange things around his nap or have someone watch him here so he sleeps in his crib.

The trip to CA showed me he will sleep in a playpen, so we decided to give it a whirl and see what happened.

I also should mention that I have given the green light to EVERYONE to let him try anything you are eating.  He is curious these days, and will give pretty much anything a chance.

Well, he napped a good nap that day, so we picked him up in time to go out to dinner.

While getting him bundled to leave, they gave me a recap of what he'd eaten.  It was full of variety since they'd taken him to a local buffet, and included chicken strips and mashed potatoes and green beans.

Oh, and M&Ms.

There was a dessert bar, and his great grandaddy couldn't resist letting him try out things.  There were some mini M&Ms, and apparently James fell in love.  Enough so that when they got home they let him try the original sized ones, and he had no problems.

Fast forward to Christmas Eve.

We had dinner and my husband's uncle and aunt's house.  Everyone ate, James sampled what was there, and then ate some jarred food to make sure he was full.

Dessert was a variety of cookies and treats to help yourself to, and it was situated on a low wall right behind us in the dining room.  James had been playing with people, and finally decided he wanted us.

He sat on my lap, finished eating, and then as daddy got up to get more snacks, James stood up and looked at the bounty of sugar.

And reached for a cookie.

I grabbed it and was about to break off a piece for him when he swatted at my hand.

And then quickly proceeded to rip the three M&Ms that were baked into the top right off, one right after the other, and eat them.

Just like that, he was wiggling to get down and play.

Christmas morning he was gifted with a bag of mini M&Ms of his own.

They are in a drawer and he gets a few at a time for dessert.  So far, he seems to grasp that is all he gets and hasn't fought for more after finishing his serving.

I'm all for letting him enjoy foods of all kinds.  But also working on moderation.

Friday Smile: Big Boy Desk

Back to "Normal"

After 11 days with no lap top on so that I wouldn' look at work stuff I had to return to work.

Two days later I am caught up.  And back to a normal schedule.

Have you missed me?

James has.

I've decided we need to find a way to become independently wealthy so that I can spend days doing just what my son wants.  Stack blocks.  Dance to music.  Watch television.  Play with trucks.

For the record, I love having a boy.  There are moments when we are at a store and there is something adorable for a little girl that make me think how sweet it would be to have a daughter.  But then I get to come home and push trucks along and play with him in his Spider-man desk and I realize this is more my style.

That's not to say that girls can't play with these toys, too.  I think she would have had Transformers in her room regardless because my husband loves them so.

But I was always a tomboy, so this feels natural.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to crank up the volume on this thing here so I can go back into the other room and play with Mega Blocks.  James loves to pretend he is Godzilla!

Wordless Wednesday: Christmas Morning with Grandpa

Hello New Year

I can't believe it's been another year. 

But here we start again.

Last January I weighed in at 289.5 pounds.  This morning it was 264.

So after the holidays, and with still no real exercise, total weight loss was 25.5 pounds gone.

Which, to be honest, is huge for me, and I've managed to pretty much maintain the loss without doing anything.  And this is the lightest I've been since high school, so another big yay for me.

Now it's time to step it up.  For real this time.

Why?

Because we want to take a family trip to Busch Gardens in late April and I want to ride some rides with my son.

The other goal is to be in the house, with new carpet in the living room, by March 1st.

Once that is done, the next project is the floors upstairs.  Then a redo of the dining room so it's not so dark.  I'll have to get pictures.

I'm so thankful that we made it through 2012, and cannot say enough how excited I am to see what 2013 has to bring us.

Here we go!