Happy Birthday to ME!

It's my birthday! I am 36 years old and feel like I am getting older by the minute. My big plans for today: See my chiropractor because I hurt my back and couldn't sleep all night. Now that sounds like a fun and wild day, huh?

I like lists, so probably many of my posts will be lists. I made up a list of what I have accomplished in the last year. I like to do that every year on my birthday so I can see in writing where the year went. It occurred to me this morning that more or less my life is half over. Wow! That's a sobering thought. Of course I could die tomorrow in a car crash, but I try to be somewhat positive.

So here is my accomplishments in random order (you know because my brain is too old to put them in chronological order)
-spent last years birthday in doctor's office getting nonstress test done and basically wasting my time
-broke a rib
-had a wonderful waterbirth surrounded by family and friends
-spent the fall having a "babymoon"
-Had a lovely christmas where everyone was actually healthy!
-Started teaching at community college as an adjunct clinical instructor.
-Decided one day it was time to move, so within a week listed our house and within 2 months had bought, sold, rented, repaired, and moved. Definitely a stressor but I LOVE my new house and LOVE my new area so it was definitely the right decision. I asked God to help out if this was the right move and he made sure we had no doubts.
-My teenager is starting to drive!
-My baby is starting to walk!
-Delivered my first baby as my own independent midwife! Had a lovely waterbirth
-Tried to make it a point to spend more time with kids doing "nothing" and not watching the clock, trying to squeeze in a phone call, email or some cleaning while they want my attention!
-lost 30 lbs! And it was not easy, my body seems to fight the weight loss every pound of the way!
-decided to try a new sport, tennis, still recovering from that experience, but we had fun, I think I will stick with that for a bit and see how it goes!
-died my hair a ridiculous shade of bright red and had to spend alot to get it repaired. Decided I liked it darker, so will keep it that way for now.

OK, so it was a busy year! Just the part about having the baby and moving and starting a new job, I think on the stress scale puts me up there! But it has been a happy year, I can't complain. All the things that have happened have been good, not bad. Now that I work in the cancer unit with the students I have really come to appreciate more of the little things, the stuff we take for granted.

So Happy Birthday to me! I hope to blog more often. I come up with great blogs in my head, it's just getting them down onto to paper or the computer that is the problem!

What did I do today?????

So I often go to bed at night and think what did I accomplish today? Because it does really seem like I spend all day putting out fires, changing diapers, listening to arguing (and not always dealing with that in a mature, adult way) and desperately trying to find some peace and quiet. Oh, and I try to nap. This is essential for both my health and well-being and my family's health and well-being. I do not sleep well at night, the baby wants to nurse constantly and I am constantly being awakened by his searching for the nipple that fell out of his mouth. It's like some sort of torture ritual, see how mom does if we wait until she is asleep, wait for the REM, then POW! someone wake her. If it's not the baby then it's a dog,a cat,a husband snoring,a 4 year old with nightmare, or another assorted kid with another assorted problem. I am not a very nice mommy between the hours of 10pm and 7am.

So anyway, last weekend I decided to try to make a list of what kinds of things I did all day. Here is my weekend (this is the weekend of July 1-2).
Saturday:
-craft show in the morning complete with food, crafts, kids activities, dog show, and a magician. Fun, but hot.
-Nap with baby (best part of the day)
-wake up from nap, family is MIA. Turns out my husband decided to build a swingset from scratch and makes trip #1 to Lowe's to get some supplies
-entertain myself by watching husband try to figure out how to build swingset while children "help" and offer their suggestions
-Steam clean living room and ottoman
-Install new DVD movie program, curse alot, attempt to figure it out, give up and go find a kid to explain it to me
-Light fire and roast marshmallows (why do we ever think this is a good idea? Results in lots of whining, crying, dropping of marshmallows, stealing all the chocolate,...and you should see how the kids were behaving)
-Read news online, check email (I got a new computer, my precious!)
-Pick up daughter from work and let her drive (good for the nerves you know)
-Stop at subway for dinner
-practice my piano song (wonderful thing about tiggers is what I am currently working on, you know, the classics)
-sit outside while husband continues with swingset and watch kids catch lightning bugs

Sunday:
-vacuum and steam car (that was totally insane, it was like 90 degrees, but while I am doing this, I can't hear anything but the hum of the vacuum and steamer, ah, some peace and quiet)
-Made a big brunch for everyone, which means, I actually cooked something, a rare occurrence
-Take daughter to work and later pick her back up (again, with the driving)
-Husband still working on swingset, takes older kids to Lowes for trips 2 and 3! 3rd times a charm, right?
-Grocery shopping (I really hate this,my ADD kicks in and I feel totally overwhelmed, forget half the junk and pick up lots more junk I don't need and neither does my butt!)
-make up fruit tray for party this evening (ok, so I didn't actually make the fruit tray, but I did watch my older kids make it and supervised, that counts for something)
-play around with my new computer program and call my kids whenever I screw something up, finally decide I should assign them the project-
-Practice the piano
-load of laundry
-go hang out at friends picnic and visit


So, anyway, turns out I do alot over the weekend. Maybe not the stuff I would like to be doing, but still, there's alot to do with a family of 7!

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