Inspirational Sight

I shared this on Facebook today, but I wanted to blog about it and share more of my thoughts.

As I was driving to work this morning, I was stopped at an intersection as a crossing guard escorted a mother and her two children across the street. This was no ordinary sight. The mother was pulling a wagon with two children in one hand, one obviously onto her way to school, and in the other hand was a harness of her guide dog. WOW!! This woman is blind, with two small children, and walking them to school.

I still cannot get her out of my mind. Here I struggle with my two kids and keeping up with them and everday life and she is doing the same, yet cannot see. What an amazing woman she has to be. While I don't know anything about her, just imagine the perserverance and determination she has to go through each day.

While I admire her, I also feel sorry for her and have a sense of sadness for her. I cannot imagine never being able to see my children's faces. I tear up just thinking about it.

This was a sight that I will never forget. It was a real lesson for me on how blessed and fortunate I am. It makes any struggles I have seem so insignificant.

What an inspiration!

The next blog entry is one I wrote a couple of weeks ago but have been saving. I feel like it really ties into this blog entry.

It's the Simple Things

I'm a simple girl. I don't need fancy things. I don't need to be the best at things. I am easily entertained. I love my simple life and here are few thing that make me happy.

Evening walks with the family, including Rascal

Playing with the kids outside

Watching lightening with Jacob at bed time or just laying on the bed with him talking to him right before he goes to sleep

Saturday mornings - we get a few minutes of extra sleep and I like to make breakfast and then spend time with the kids. They are rested, fed, and just a lot of fun to play with. These opoortunities are rare during the week since we work, so they are all the more precious when get these times with the kids.

Bailey learning to talk

Jacob figuring out the world and watching him grow into a young boy

DVR - seriously what did we do before the DVR?!?!

Uninterrupted conversations with Dan

That moment when both kids are both asleep and Dan and I can hang out

Sitting outside early in the morning when everything is still quiet - haven't been able to do this in awhile since the kids don't sleep in!

A good run

Reading a good book for more than two minutes at a time

A successful dinner that everyone likes and eats

Kids laughing and playing well together

Jacob acting like a big brother (the other day he held her hand and helped her down the steps)

Spending time with family

Opportunities to spend time with my friends and sister

Facebook

Blogging

Having the house clean and organized

Getting it Together

I have never been one to make New Year's resolutions, let alone keep any if I did make them. That changed this year. I literally woke up on New Year's Day and decided I wasn't happy about certain aspects in my life and I vowed to make some changes. I won't go into some of them (you'll just have to just trust me that those changes were made!), but I thought I would share a couple.

One of my resolutions was to change how our dinner meal was being executed. For many years, Dan and I ate dinner around 8:00 at night. While that suited our lifestyle before kids, that didn't fly anymore. I have worked hard at getting dinner ready between 6:00 - 6:30 each night. I also wanted to eat as a family, which is really important to me. For Jacob's first year, I fed him his dinner and then Dan and I ate once he was in bed. When Bailey was born, that changed everything! Another piece of this mix was actually making a dinner as many nights as possible instead of frozen meals. I cleaned out my recipe box, added new ones that I found online (Kraft.com is amazing!), and talked to friends and family about meal ideas and tricks on getting dinner ready in a timely manner. I'm still experimenting with new recipes (much against Dan's preference) and have found ones that have turned into new favorites. I recently started making out a menu for the week, which is coordinated with what the kids eat for lunch. I love, love, love having everything planned out and knowing ahead of time what we're eating and the prep time involved. I can't tell you how many times I stood in the kitchen just staring at the pantry trying to figure out what to make and then settling on something less healthy that was quick because everyone was hungry. I in no way, shape, or form can call myself a good cook, but I'm learning and trying. I don't remember helping my mom in the kitchen much growing up, which is a mistake I won't let either of my kids make!

I also vowed to get my house in order. After having two kids back-to-back, I definitely let my house go. I have forced myself to clean on a schedule so it wouldn't get behind again and it has worked! I also created a long list of spring cleaning projects that needed to be tackled back in late spring and am proud to say that I am finally through the list! It's so nice to finally feel comfortable in my own home again. I could still come up with a number of projects to work on, but for now, I'm done.

In the spring, we decided to upgrade our washer and dryer to the energy efficient models. At first I wasn't a fan and didn't think it was worth the money. After using them for a few weeks I could see how many less loads I was doing a week. It probably comes to about three less loads a weeks, which makes such a difference!

I feel like we have finally emerged from the fog of the last year after Bailey was born. Adding one little body into the household is no small feat!! I love that the kids are on the same routine and are becoming more independent. I have started venturing out for some "me time" more (although not enough) and getting just a couple hours to myself is a great way to refuel. I'm also working out again and hope to rediscover my muscles that have morphed into jelly the past few years!!

Well, that's all for now. Oh, and I in no way feel like the changes I have made are in anyway "groundbreaking", but for me it is a step up in the right direction!!

Bailey's Dance Party

Bailey loves to dance. Any music gets her going. I grabbed the video camera to capture one of her moves last weekend and got more than I could have asked for. You'll have to view the video below, you will see what I mean!

I Wonder Where He Gets It?

Jacob has some OCD in him. It's really no surprise because I make no secrets that I have my OCD issues. Jacob loves to line things up. Lately, it's his bigger toys that are kept downstairs. He turns them into a perfectly lined train. If one gets moved, he freaks out! He also likes to line up the letter magnets from the fridge onto the dishwasher. He also lines things up in his room when he is supposed to be sleeping. He makes lines out of his lego blocks and books. He went through a phase where he would take all of his sheets off his bed and then line his books, one-by-one, in a perfect square on top of his mattress. I seriously wish I got a picture of this. His OCD goes beyond making lines of things. He has to have his food in just the right spot on his plate and if you want to cut up his food, you better ask first because if it's cut the wrong way, he won't eat it! I could go on and on!

Bailey has shown her first OCD issue. When you feed her, she likes you on her right and sitting down. This was where I would always feed her when she was eating baby food, so maybe that's it. We'll soon see if this is the extent of it for her or if she'll take after her brother (and mother).

Mommy and Jacob Day

I took a day off last week to spend the day with Jacob. I miss my little buddy sometimes! Bailey gets plenty of my attention and is sick often enough that our one-on-one time outnumbers mine with Jacob. We had a blast. We went to the Miller Park Zoo for the first time and played at its playground afterwards. I didn't know that was there or how great a playground and splash park it is! We'll definitely be back and also to take Jacob's three-year pictures there I think. Lots of opportunities for some great shots! After the zoo and park, we met Dan for lunch at Culvers. Jacob loves the fish tank and we were lucky enough to get a booth right next to it. Afterwards, we played outside for awhile before he took a good nap.

It's funny, because although I know he had a great time at the zoo, his favorite moment was going to the restaurant. He even told everyone at school the next day what he ate there! I think that the day was as much for me as it was for him. I gained more patience with him and he actually seemed to behave ALL day. I am going to plan on more days like this because before we know it, he'll be driving and not wanting anything to do with me!!


Wallabies

Watching the birds

"Reindeer"

Alpaca



Giant tortoise

The real tiger was "hiding" so Jacob posed with this one. He actually thought it was real!

Fair

We went to the McLean County Fair a couple of weeks ago. The kids loved seeing all the animals and they also liked looking at the tractors. We somehow missed the building with the baby animals and kid-friendly activities. Oh well, we'll hit it next year!