Happy Holidays

Winter Solstice has become one of my favorite holidays. In order to feel the long night, our family turns off all lights in the house at sundown and lives the rest of the evening by candlelight. We eat dinner (yummy Chinese food) by candles and then the rest of the evening the candles end up spreading throughout the house so we can live without electric light. I even did dishes by candlelight. We played games and this year we rented a couple of movies. It is not something I would want every night but once a year it is a fun, family evening. This year we were still awake as the final candles burnt out.

Christmas was a little different this year. Christmas-eve the kids and I went out to dinner, as has become our tradition since we moved here. I then went to the church for the candle-light service, because the choir was singing. I had never been to that service and it was really nice. The kids didn't want to go and stayed home and watched movies instead. I then went to a party with some friends and had a really good time. I had some interesting discussions with the widest range of individuals I had ever seen in one place.

Christmas day Glenn came over to open presents. Everyone got plenty of presents, even though we cut down this year. Kara's big present was an i-pod touch (I didn't get a picture of that one) and Tim's big one was Guitar Hero World Tour, here he is opening it:

Glenn stayed at my place and played with the kids while I went to the pot-luck at the church, which was a good time, visiting with old and new friends.

Since Christmas the kids have been having a lot of fun with the guitar hero. I have tried to play with them, but can never get far on drums or guitar. Kara has let me sing on a few songs but she likes playing that roll, often in combination with the guitar.

My Baby is 12!!!!

It is hard to believe that it has been twelve years. Tim is and always has been my independent child. He has always done things in his own way and in his own time. Although he was considered full-term when he born, he was a preemie. His lungs were not fully developed. After he was born he was immediately taken to the nursery and put on oxygen. At 8 hours old they air-evaced him to the NICU, where he spent 8 days. At 6lbs 12ozs he was the biggest baby in the NICU. As soon as he was removed from the ventilator he began to make his demands known, he wanted to be held all the time, the nurses would take turns holding him as they did their paperwork. When he came home from the hospital he still insisted on being held all the time. I had heard of attachment parenting, but never thought much about it, until he insisted.

The truth is he still likes to be held on occassion. He is such a funny kid, and can be so sweet. He senses the moods of those around him, when others in the family are upset, he gets upset. But, he can be so much fun to have around. He has a quick wit and laughs easily. He can also be quite the philosopher, discussing the meaning of life and the possibilities of the universe. He can express quite an attitude at times and enjoys pointing out the inconsistencies, injustice and unnecessary aspects of life (and especially school). He is not one to follow the crowd, but finds his own interests and hobbies. He loves music and has great rhythm, he has shown some ability on the guitar and bass guitar (he would be a great drummer, but I'm not sure I could stand to have a drum set in the house). He has done amazing claymation, and has recently begun making domino designs. He really is an amazing kid and I look forward to witnessing his progress throughout adolescents and into adulthood, I can imagine a million possibilities for his future, and I am excited to see how and what he chooses to do with his life.

Progress???

There have been a lot of changes going on, and I feel I have made some progress in the many things that I want to do, and then there are areas that I am not doing so well.

Doing Well:

Exercise: I have been getting to the gym 3-4 times a week and yoga once a week.

Eating: I have very recently been doing better about eating more vegetables and nuts.

School: I finished everything for this semester and I believe I have A's in both classes (final grades are not available yet).

Social: I have been fighting my hermit tendencies and forcing myself to get out into a social arena at least a couple of times a week.

Housework: I have been getting the house completely clean at least once a week (the good part about being separated is the kids are at Dad's a couple of days a week making this possible).

Motherhood: I am feeling a good connection with my kids most of the time.

Procrastination: My list of things I am procrastinating is actually quite small at the moment.

Still Needs Improvement:

Exercise: I need to figure out what is causing all these little pains that make me have to ease up on the exercise, both my hip and shoulder are currently aching (is this just part of old age).

Eating: I need to cut back on the junk food, sure I am eating the veggies but do you know what else is good with the veggie dip? Pringles.

School: I need to focus on actually learning, I didn't do ANY of the reading this semester but still managed good grades, but am I learning enough to pass the boards?

Housework: I need to work on having the kids do chores. It is so much easier to just do things myself.

Motherhood: I am not doing a good job getting the kids in bed at a decent hour.

Other things: I have been doing far too much escape reading. I spend too much time with a book in hands and my feet up against a space heater (there are other more cost effective and environmentally friendly ways to warm my feet). And although I have tried to cut back on the eating out I still go out to eat more than I should, I need to do a better job planning dinners.

Overall:

I am feeling hopeful for the future. It feels like standing in the fog, I can barely see the near future and beyond the 18 months, when I finish school, it is totally dark, but I am hopeful and feel good that things will work out.

Life's ups and downs

This blog is supposed to be about my life, but somehow it is easier to write about the good times than the bad.

Most people who read this blog already know, but I feel it needs to be said. Glenn moved out and now I am learning how to do this single parent thing. It isn't all bad, the house is easier to keep clean, and the days the kids stay at Glenn's are nice and quiet, but they don't like to sleep there and usually end up coming back here to sleep, but those evening hours home alone or going out and coming home to an empty, clean house are kind-of nice. Glenn's place is really close so the kids see him regularly. As long as we can manage financially until I finish school in a year and a half, I think things will work out.

So now that I got the big news posted, maybe I will do a better job at posting regularly.