Another New Year

I haven't posted in ages! But old habits die hard so I thought I'd check in with my New Years post.

1. What did you do in 2018 that you’d never done before?  Hmm...I took on more of a managerial role at work, acting as direct supervisor for someone.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don't make resolutions really 

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? A few Facebook friends

4. Did anyone close to you die? Thankfully, no.

5. What countries did you visit? Another year stateside for me

6. What would you like to have in 2019 that you didn’t have in 2018? I would like to gain some financial stability 

7. What dates from 2018 will be etched upon your memory, and why? AJ's first day of school

8. What was your biggest achievement of this year? I've made some great strides at work and feel very accomplished in that arena

9. What was your biggest failure?  Weight/healthwise.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?  Nothing major this year yay!

11. What was the best thing you bought? Our newish car, its fancy!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Work stuffs (no wonder I don't blog more, I'm so boring!)

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Ugh, Donald Trump. (Some more)

14. Where did most of your money go? Bills 

15. What did you get really excited about? Adam and I are thinking of taking a little trip for our 15th anniversary this year

16. What song will always remind you of 2018? The entire soundtrack of the Greatest Showman (still obsessed)

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer  I think I've stayed steady in all areas this year, for better or worse 

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? excercising and writing

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Stressing out

20. How did you spend Christmas? We had a quiet but lovely day at home. Comfy clothes, games, and watching the kids enjoy the day

21. Did you fall in love in 2018? More and more every day with my husband and kids

22. What was your favorite TV show? I binge watched The Good Place and loved it

 23. What was the best book you read? Turtles all the way down by John Green

24. What was your greatest musical discovery? The Greatest Showman lol

25. What did you want and get? New car

26. What did you want and not get? I didnt manage to get family photos done

27. What was your favorite film of 2018? The Greatest Showman (broken record)

28. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 36. I worked and had chocolate cake lol

29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Less stress and anxiety in general

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept of 2018 ? I still love leggings. I got a cute dress and chunky sandals last summer I really loved. Oh, and this year I finally ended up with a haircut I love

31. What kept you sane? Adam and the boys, family and friends, books, music and YouTube 

32. What political issue stirred you the most? Donald Trump is still president

33. Who did you miss? My sister, my grandparents and my great aunt and my little Gabriel.

 34. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2018. Some years are going to be nothing spectacular, and that's ok.

 35. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. 

When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out
I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I'm meant to be, this is me

6.28.18

I'm sitting on a tiny bench in a love little oasis. A fountain in the pond burbles cheerfully. The sun is hot but a light breeze ruffles my hair. At my feet are flowers. In front of me is a birdbath. There are few toys scattered nearby.

It's a beautiful place, but it's a sad beauty.

The bench sits near the headstone commemorating too many babies gone to soon, including my Gabe. I find small comfort that I can visit this pretty place and do a tiny thing for the child I planned to do so much more for.

Two years ago you left us. I miss you, sweet baby boy.

Not Nine

He is not nine. Not my first baby.

But he is. It doesn't seem possible that I've been his mom for nine entire years. He loves to hear the story of when he was born, how it had snowed more that a foot and how we were up all night. Then when we dozed off and he started crying Adam and I had that moment where we realized we were really parents and we had to take care of this little human.

It's so awesome to watch him grow and change and develop. He's such a cool little person. He does great in school and chatters away about the smallest things. He makes friends easily. He's sensitive and sweet and funny. He loves computers and video games and anything technological. He is steadfast that he wants to be a YouTuber when he grows up. He is still a picky eater and still small for his age (something he is aware of and a little sensitive about). He is full of energy and fun!  He loves his little brother and always wants to be affectionate to him, even when AJ resists! He wants a little sister, which breaks my heart just a little!

He had a great birthday (I'm late posting this, of course. His birthday was January 28). Friday, I took a long lunch and drove down to have lunch with him at school. The school is about a 40 minute drive from work (since traffic wasn't an issue) but the look on his face when he was me made it well worth the time! He knew I was coming, of course, but boy was he excited!

Might have to zoom--Running to me with his arms out

Happy to see me--or the McDonalds I brought with me

Saturday we did our usual errands and let Tyler pick where we ate lunch. He chose Arni's because he loves their cheese fries. It poured rain all day, but that didn't stop us. Both boys needed new shoes, so we stopped at Target after lunch. AJ got yet another pair of Paw Patrol shoes (in a size 12!) and Tyler got his first pair of (SOB) big boy shoes in a size 1. I know most kids his age have probably passed this milestone before the age of 9, but not my little guy!

Posing with Target Dog (in their old shoes)

I spent the afternoon running around like mad trying to find his birthday gifts. I succeeded, but it took 7 stores and paying $15 more for one item than I would have paid if I'd ordered the darn thing online, but oh well!

Sunday was his actual birthday. I baked chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting (and letter candies and sprinkles, per Tyler). We let him pick dinner and he wanted to order pizza. He got two new games for his Nintendo Switch, a game for his DS (see above note about loving video games), plus Monopoly Pokemon (see note about paying $15 too much), a Minecraft hat, several game pieces for his Monopoly Gamer board game (which is actually a pretty fun game), and a gift card(that's from us, Michelle, Angie, and her finacee Jon). He was thrilled with everything, of course!

Loot!

Wonder what he wished for? And AJ being cute even blurry.

All smiles

Opening said loot

The boys love their board games. We have at least 4 versions of Monopoly alone

 I could tell he felt special all weekend and loved every second of it and that just makes my heart melt! I just love these boys more than I could ever have imagined possible!!!

Oh, I must include a couple random AJ pictures...He's been going through a phase of skipping his nap (yes he still naps at 5 years old. Because he can and because he is cranky by 7:30 if he doesn't!  The kid also wakes up at like 5 am most days, which is annoying, but he just seems to have his own schedule)--anyway, he keeps falling asleep before bedtime. Photo evidence:

Fell asleep sitting up

Mid-bounce? Not really. He was actually pouting and fell asleep.

And so my baby turned nine. We aren't talking about what number comes next. I still have three hundred and fifty-odd days before I have to think of that. We are also not thinking about how I registered AJ for Kindergarten recently...