Gratitude.

This picture of Jackie Kennedy warms my heart.  I love that she is wearing pearls and that she loves her son enough to let him pull and play with them.  Lately I've been feeling incredibly grateful to be a mom.  I take this job very seriously {but not in a fanatical way...we're pretty liberal around here} and think the role of a mother is so monumental in a little person's life.  I melt every time I see those two little hands reach up for me...it's my dream come true every day. 

 In other aspects, I'm feeling quite happy about...

• The buckets of rain that we've been getting.  Some days I pretend that I don't even live in Arizona.

• My new white shower curtain from Blueseeds, owned by my good friend Carla.

• Starbucks now has one size bigger than a venti, called a trenta.  I can't wait to order my iced green teas in it come June.

• Chips and salsa....I can't stop eating them lately.

• All the goodness that people have shown to help the poor victims in Haiti.  I wish I could do so much more.

Important.

I've been feeling so uninspired lately.  I've had a cold for a week, that I'm pretty sure is now a sinus infection.  I don't even feel like calling the dr. for an appointment because I was just there 3 weeks ago for the same thing. 

I have piles of laundry everywhere and instead of folding it, I'd like to throw it all in a bag and drop it off at Goodwill.

I still haven't written thank you notes from my birthday/christmas and this stresses me out every day {I'm probably going to absolve myself and get comfortable with the fact that they are not going out this year}.

I have a pile of books I want to read, but would rather watch Bravo TV.

I had plans for a great 2010 closet clean out, but I just look at the mess and close the door.

I swore I was going to omit sugar from life {yet again} but somehow have had a little "treat" every day.

Luckily I'm feeling amazingly solid in my role as a mother.  Harrison is learning and growing in front of my very eyes and every time I look at him, I literally want to eat him with a spoon.  I can't believe how lucky I am that God let me be his mother. I just keep reminding myself that this is the most important thing in my life anyway, so the rest of it can wait.

My Buddy.

Harrison has been my best buddy the past few weeks.  About a month ago I was at my wits end with him.  He was waking up every night and wanting to play from 1:30 am till 3 am.  I was exhausted, fed up and starting to resent him.  I talked to the pediatrician, who told me what I already knew, that he needed to just cry and put himself back to sleep.  For a week we did sleep training {yet again!} and the result has been the past two weeks of sleeping through the night.  I feel rested, happy and in love with him all over again.

He currently says: mama, dada, dog, papa {my grandfather}, gaga {agua = water in spanish}, night night and no, no, no.  He is obsessed with cars and thinks almost everything I do is funny.  He starts to bounce every time he hears music and waves to everyone he comes in contact with.  He continues to blow my mind watching him develop, remember, speak and dance.

When I prayed for a baby, I had no idea that God would grant me such a gift as Harrison. 

ps...Can you believe his pediatrician told me that I needed to cut his hair?!?  He suggested I get him a buzz cut.  I just laughed and said "NEVER"!  I'm thinking of switching doctors...

Mom.

My mom in 1955 at 5 years old.

Today is my amazing mother's 60th birthday.  For those of you who know me in real life, you know that my mom has had an interesting ride in life.  Her childhood was filled with abuse and neglect, yet she rose out of it like a phoenix {and a lot of therapy}.  She is an example of resiliency at its finest.

This blog isn't big enough to hold all the things I have to say about my mom.  If you knew her story and saw her today, she would truly amaze you.  Most people given her circumstances, end up in prostitution, addicted to drugs/alcohol, or in prison.  She was a single mom, most of my childhood, and raised me with the morals and values that have made me who I am today.  She got up every day to teach 3rd graders, then came home and helped me with my homework, made dinner and put me to bed.  And if I was sick in the night, she was there at my side. Now that I'm a mom...she is my hero. 

She and I have had our share of disagreements, have complete opposite personalities, and for a long time I didn't understand her at all.  Today as I look at who she is, woman to woman, I could cry at the beauty inside her.  God truly blessed her despite her trials.

At 60 she is happy, joyful, fun, inspiring and content.  For years this was all I prayed for her, and to see her  now is magical...

Happy Birthday Mom.

Housekeeping.

I promised myself that I was going to clean, organize and purge this weekend. 

Instead I spent waaaay to much time making a new header and learning more about blogger than I ever cared to know. 

Oh well...maybe I'll get around to cleaning sometime this week.

New Year.

Resolution (n.) : 1. a resolve or determination. 2. the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc.

Here is my 2010 attempt...

1. Be myself.

2. Laugh when I want to yell.

3. Feel comfortable in my own skin {exercise, eat well, blah, blah, blah...}

4. Only buy things of quality and necessity.

5. Have a date with my husband once a week.

6. Read 2 books a month.

7. Clear the clutter from my life {closets, guest room, garage...the list goes on and on}.

8. Take time to nurture myself.

9. Get down on the floor and play with my son more often.

10. Call my Grandfather once a week.

11. Start having dinner parties.

12. Remember that "It is never too late to become who you might have been." -George Eliot

Here's to an unbelievable New Year.