Six Years Ago

3:00 AM
I wake with a start. I am 9 months and 1 week pregnant with our second child, feeling big, bloated, and tired all of the time and wishing I would just have this baby already! And to make matters worse I think I may have just peed the bed!

3:10 AM
Wait. That’s not pee.

3:15 AM
I wake Pat to tell him I think my water broke.

Pat: (sleepily) Huh? Why don’t you wait a little while to make sure.

His head hits the pillow and he resumes snoring.

3:20 AM
I lie on the couch holding the phone and timing the contractions while I watch crappy television turned down low. 

5:15 AM
I finally call the doctor, who laughs when I tell him how long I let him sleep.

6:00 AM
Pat and I pull into my sister’s drive way.  He escorts a sleepy 8-year old Savannah through the rain inside the house.

6:20 AM
We arrive at the hospital.

11:56 AM
Sarah arrives.

Six years later we have our fairy princess.

 

Happy birthday, Sarah! 

101 in 1001: #69

As I’ve gotten older I’ve been trying to avoid the camera. Hence why my current Facebook profile pic is of my son and why all the photos of me on this sidebar are very old!

I don’t like the way I look on film – sometimes pasty, sometimes dull, sometimes frizzy-haired, and a lot of the time kinda bloated. It doesn’t make for a pretty picture.

But what I hate more than an unflattering picture are the disappointed looks and words from Savannah and my husband while I try to block the camera.  And even more than that, I hate not having pictures of myself with my husband and kids during this time. I’d like to be present in the scrapbook when I look back years down the line. I don’t want to be the one behind the lens, or worse, that person hiding behind a hand or a book or someone’s shoulder.

To cure this I wrote #69: “Take a self portrait once per month for 1001 days.“

Sounds easy enough.

I took my first pics sitting here in my office so I could check off my first month.  I felt silly, but it was painless.

But then I had to be a real go-getter (or smart ass if you prefer) and add another goal on my list:

“Post these pictures publically.”

Oh crap!

So here goes. The first photo for #69, taken in August 2013. Yes, it took me 3 weeks to get around to posting it publically. I’m cringing while I do this, but I’m determined to make it through this list.

 

What will be cool to watch (I hope) is seeing changes in these photos as I try to reach #27 (Getting down to my “happy weight” – if there is such a thing!), and #63 (Give myself a complete makeover.)

This should be interesting.

(Read more about the 101 in 1001 project here.)

#57

Since March 2011 I’ve been on a journey of sorts and ended up not quite where I thought I would.  I quit my job as a conference manager for a large nonprofit organization.  I was totally burnt out, stressed, and snapping at everyone at home and sometimes at work. It was time to decompress. 

(If you want a little history, you can read about my decision to leave here.)

Over the next 2 1/2 years I went from being a stay-at-home mom to a part-time church secretary, then a full-time volunteer manager and now I’m back to managing conferences.

Did I want to end where I started? Not exactly. I was expecting to make a pretty big change, and I obviously failed there. I do this conference planning thing well, though, and I’m getting paid for my knowledge and experience, which is nice. What’s not nice is having a boss that stays late often and comes in on her vacation days (as she did yesterday - all day), and this is after we talked about wanting to be with our kids more.  I thought we had the same priorities, but apparently not. 

But this time around I’ve decided to do something different.  Typically I focus on the vast amount of work I have or that this work doesn’t fire me up, and complain about the time my work takes away from my family. All of this is such an energy waster and I end up feeling tired most of the time, which doesn’t make me the greatest mom or wife. So I’ve started a project that I’ve seen around the web and decided to jump in.

101 in 1001

I have made a list of 101 things I want to accomplish in 1001 days.  That’s 2 years and 9 months. I’ve included things that involve my kids and my husband and things for myself that I’ve been wishing I had the time to do. My hope is this project or challenge will turn my focus on things other than work and put my energy back where it belongs…actually living life instead of complaining.

Many other blogs have published their entire lists. I’m not completely comfortable with that.  I’ve included some pretty personal things, so I’ve decided to share one at a time as I make my way through it. So stay tuned for some posts about my 101 list. 

#57 (hence the title of this post) is to blog more regularly - and I plan to accomplish that!

It occurred to me while writing this post that I could have gone through the bulk of a 101 list in the time since I left that original job. Who knows where I'd be!

Join me! Click the link above or just Google "101 in 1001" and get some ideas for your own list. I have one friend doing this with me. I'd love to have more come along and share your experiences!

By the way, I just heard author Jack Canfield say, “101 is the spiritual number of completion.”

Very interesting.

The Start of a New Era

This morning was exciting in our home!

Savannah started high school....

with a smile!  I've never seen her smile like this on a school morning.

And Sarah started kindergarten....

with some nerves, understandably.  But still smiling as always.

Pace thinks he's in the clear....

but his time comes next week. 

I hope his teacher is ready for what's coming her way!