When You Need a Laugh...

I know I've said it somewhere before but Emi is definitely the comedian in the family.  She will do anything to make you smile and get a laugh.  Well almost.  Her temper tantrums certainly don't make us smile but thankfully they only happen a few times a week and are mostly tolerable.

Two days after Christmas we got the snow I've been praying begging for since the beginning of December.  It would've been much nicer to have it on Christmas Day, but I took the 2-3 inches that fell anyway.  We spent the better part of the morning in PJ's that day.  The week before Christmas had been a flurry of activity and starting on the 26th, I wanted to spend a few days being a bum.

I was sitting on my bed doing some after Christmas research on my laptop when Emi ran in and started her antics.  She was super excited about something.  I asked her a question and she responded with, "I don't know!'  Lane was here too as he had followed her up.  That was the first time we had heard her make a coherent sentence like that.  I was floored.  Most of her responses have still been via ASL and 1 or 2 word utterances.  But clear as a bell it came out.  She said it a few times more and so the i.Phone came out and the video started rolling.  Her gestures with her response told me that she understood.  Lane and I spent the next few minutes giggling with delight.  She found something to make us laugh and kept on rolling with it.

Enjoy seeing it for yourself!

New Year's Resolutions

I used to make them when I was in my teens and early 20's and then I stopped somewhere around the time Eriks was born and they always get broken anyhow. What was the point of I didn't stick to them?

I'm not making any this year either.  However, I am making goals for myself this year and am going to do what I can to stick to them.  As outgoing as I am, I have very little self-confidence in accomplishing things.  I get frustrated and give up.  Then I get ticked at myself for getting both frustrated and giving up.  Not a very healthy relationship with myself in that sense.

My cardiologist has a stress test scheduled for me in just over 2 months.  I have never done one and I'm EXTREMELY nervous about it.  I don't exercise and I'm about 30-40 lbs overweight.  I carry my weight well but my pants size is about 6 sizes bigger than I want it to be.  So one of my goals starting next week is that I'm going to spend 20 minutes exercising 3 times a week and making healthier food choices.  Part of my issue is I tend to skip breakfast because I'm not a breakfast eater.  I hate eggs and often eggs/egg whites is what people who eat healthy have for breakfast.  I can't stand the texture, the taste or the smell.  So I've got to look at other filling options.  I'd like to be at least 10-15 lbs lighter in 2 months and be able to handle the stress test better.  I also think that if I blog about it, it makes me accountable.  So expect to be hearing about it here.

Another goal is patience.  Especially with my children.  A horrible quirk of mine is that I have pretty bad OCD issues on certain things.  I am meticulous about where things sit or are.  When my kids move things on end tables or wherever they are, I flip about them not being where I put them.  Lane gets to deal with this too.  More often if he puts something back on the wrong place and I go to find it and it's not there.  I hate disorder.  This stems from the the fact that so much in my life has not been in my control - my health, my husband's military job...that I've taken other things to the extreme.  I got better for awhile.  I used to clean house at 10 pm and it drove Lane crazy.  So much so that he'd take stuff out of my hands and tell me enough.  I haven't gone back to scrubbing the bathroom and toilets late at night but I'm definitely doing other things instead of unwinding.  I lose it when stuff isn't in its proper place.  So I'm going to work on not doing that.

My last goal (because I think 3 is enough) is to find a love of something.  I don't do anything for myself.  It's all about taking care of my family.  I need to get myself out of the house at least once a week and do something for myself.  Pottery, painting, photography...something.  I think if I did more for myself, I'd be a better wife and mother.  I wouldn't resent all the other things I do as a wife and mom if I did something that makes me happy.  Over the next few weeks, I'm going to be looking for something that gets me time for myself and makes me happy.

So do any of my readers have an goals or resolutions they'd like to share?

Christmas

We spent both Christmas Eve and part of Christmas Day at my parents' house.  We went to Mass with my mom and sister while my dad went to his church service where he attends church.  Afterwards we headed over for heavy appetizers, games and just spending time with the family.  We had a good time and the kids got to open a gift that my great-aunt sent over to them since she and her family decided not to spend Christmas Eve with our family this year.  We were able to get some very good photos of the kids together.  Last year and the year before it wasn't such a great experience but as they're getting older, they seem to be getting a little more cooperative.  My parents were very pleased with the outcome of the photos.  Maybe this spring we'll try to get some good outdoor shots of the 3 grandkids together.

Christmas morning the kids thankfully not up at the crack of dawn.  They got up at 8 am and I got up 30 minutes later.  I was up until around 1 stuffing stockings and required a few more minutes of sleep.  It took several hours to get through our gifts.  The kids took time to look at their gifts and we also opened gifts from Lane's parents and Lane's sister's family that she had sent for the kids.  The kids enjoyed their gifts but have yet to play with some of them.  We didn't get them that much but they got a lot from everyone else.  Eriks still has boxes that haven't been opened yet.  Much of Em's stuff was put away because it was stuff we asked for that went with other stuff she already had (ie more stuff for her American.Girl Bitty.Baby doll, furniture for her Loving.Family dollhouse, etc).

Lane did well this year when it came to getting me gifts even though I yelled at him for procrastinating.  I procrastinated a bit this year too which I never do and I regretted it.  It will not happen again.  I'm just going to start picking up stuff on clearance for all the kids I know if I think they'll like it through the year and stash it away.  I was miserable and completely exhausted by Christmas Eve and although as I said it was relaxing, I didn't enjoy it as much if I hadn't been out running errands earlier that day trying to finish up.  So back to the 2 really cool gifts he got me.  He and I are going to go see Shen.Yun the Chinese Performing Arts show.  I have friends who have seen it and say that the majority of the show is beautiful but there is one very controversial part that they wish was not included.  I still want to see it for myself.  We are also seeing Ron.White perform too.  We are huge comedy junkies.  We love it, especially good comedians.  Unfortunately with kids and the fact that it can be expensive, we don't do it as often as we'd like.  Granted we could go to our local comedy club and see stand-up instead of the big name comics.  Both performances occur during Lane's spring break in March so we'll have a busy week.

Christmas Day afternoon we headed back to my parents' house for dinner and opening gifts from my parents and siblings.  My mom and dad are so generous and honestly should've not gotten everything they did.  I got a bunch of the Rachael.Ray stuff I wanted since some of my cookware is starting to become unusable as I've worn it thin.  I actually had to throw away a beloved non-stick pan a few months ago.  I also got my badly wanted blue Colts sweatshirt.  The kids got more stuff than they know what to do with.  The dinner was fabulous as always.  I was blessed with a mother who is a fantastic cook and has done a very good job teaching me.  For dinner we had beef tenderloin, hassleback potatoes, Caesar salad with homemade dressing, roasted asparagus and rolls.  I was stuffed but managed to eat a piece of to-die-for Red Velvet cheesecake.

It was a very good Christmas this year.  Albeit a little weird since this is the first time we spent it with family without having to travel more than 8 hours to spend it with them.  One of these days we would like to get back to San Antonio to spend Christmas with Lane's parents but driving is not an option as with my health I don't do well in cars for long periods of time anymore (edema aka swelling in my legs and very poor circulation) and Emi hates being strapped in a car seat for more than 3 or 4 hours.  Currently the drive between here and there where they live is about 20 hrs.  While Lane is in law school, we just can't afford to put 4 people on a plane.  I'm hoping that the year he graduates we'll be able to do it because I fell bad that we can't do it anytime soon and I'd like to visit with family and friends down that way.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah depending on which you celebrate!  I still can't believe it's 2012!