2009 ---> 2010

2009 held so many wonderful things for me, I feel truly blessed.

We bought a house. Our dream house. Even though we lost a house before we got that house, and bid on a house and was denied that house, we bought our dream house and say every single day, "I love this house." There is nothing about it that doesn't make us melt inside. Not even the kitchen sink that didn't work the first 5 weeks we lived there. This house brings our family great warmth and comfort and protection.

Loudoun started Kindergarten. One day, all of a sudden, he started reading and writing. Literally, overnight. One morning he woke up, and spelled out an entire sentence telling us "I-A-M-H-U-N-G-R-Y." Rick and I were shocked. He has continued to grow and blossom and it is exciting every day to see his spirit and personality and mind grow into the man he will someday become. We can already see glimpses of that man. Between all of the fart jokes. Oh wait, that doesn't really go away.

Avalon started preschool. When Loudoun was her age, he went to daycare. Daycare was a lady running a licensed aftercare from her home. We loved his daycare, but Avalon is in something totally different. Avalon is in a preschool center, with a classroom and structure and a daily schedule. They are assigned 1 teacher and have fun and do art and read books and play and nap. And she loves it. She is thriving there. She is the smallest kid in the entire school and because of that she gets extra special love from the teachers, the administrators and even the other parents when they pick up their kid. In 2009 she potty trained herself at under 2-1/2 years old, so that was a wonderful present to us. I wasn't expecting to have both kids out of diapers this soon, so I was floored when she did it herself.

Rick and I spent the year together, in a happy marriage, dealing with all that life had to throw at us, and came out the other end just as strong as when we went into 2009. We battled house buying, finance organizing, kid raising, extended family vacations, all while maintaining open communication and sensitivity with each other's feelings. It wasn't perfect. But we are just as happy to be married today as we were on 1/1/09, and that's comforting. I look forward to a lifetime with Rick.

I quit drinking. Now, this one is bittersweet, because in order to get to the place where I started my sobriety, I had to sink to a pretty low, guilty place about my over-consumption of alcohol. But the end result was a new life of sobriety, and as of right now, I have almost 4 months of it. Good stuff. The guilt disappeared. The time with my family became special and memorable. Don't get me wrong, it was always special. But I didn't always remember every detail. Now I remember right up to the time my kids put their heads on their pillows and Rick and I do the same. My mind feels clear. Clear to think, feel and comprehend. I'm loving sobriety.

I found God. I mean, really found Him. I spend everyday wanting to learn more about Him, about Scripture, about Christ and Salvation. I long to have an intimate relationship with Him, one that grows immensely everyday. I want to serve Him and Glorify Him with my life. This has got to be the best present of 2009, I mean really? Nothing tops a spiritual awakening. Nothing.

As 2009 comes to a close, I wish the best for you and your family in 2010. May your year be filled with love, joy, peace and good times.

Wordless Wednesday

*feel free to click if you need words today

Christmas Emotions

Kids who are 5 and 2 run through the full range of emotions on Christmas morning. The excitement, the rush, the waiting, trying to open packages, the highs followed by calm, followed by needing a nap....it's a lot for a kid to take in. Let's start with being woken up by your big brother, before you are quite ready.

* The purse is from Christmas Eve. It was the only thing that got her out of bed.

Loudoun was fine all morning. 5 year olds are mature.

She took some encouragement to be happy.

But, once we got into the swing of things, we were good to go.

We had a wonderful Christmas and the kids proved it by passing out in bed at 5pm. Then Rick and I watched Inglorious Basterds on BluRay and passed out early ourselves.

Looking forward to a kick-ass 2010.

Him

I've been wanting to write this post for quite some time now, but with the seriousness and importance of the subject matter, I have been terrified to acutally put my feelings down in print, in fear that I just wouldn't do it justice. But I am about to explode with joy and excitement, so I cannot hold it back any longer.

On December 3rd I invited God into my heart. I have accepted Jesus in my life and I cannot believe the rush I feel. It's like a physical change inside, that I can feel pulsing through my veins. I see life differently. I see my relationships differently. I am growing a relationship with Him everyday and I am overflowing with excitement. That rush I originally felt stuck around, and continues to grow and fill my days with energy. Overflowing is an understatement. I cannot get enough of the bible, of podcast sermons, during my commute to and from work, during my jogging, before bedtime. Absorb, absorb, absorb. It's tricky hearing something on a podcast during jogging because I want to write it down but can't so I need to repeat it 76 times until I get back home to write it in a journal.

I feel a peace I never knew existed. And you know what? Looking back, I haven't wanted a drink for several weeks now. Not once. Not one desire. Not one thought. Not to say that it will stay like that forever. But that is my proof that I have no control over my not drinking, He does. AA says that, and the Bible says that. I've reached a point in my life that I am ready to turn everything over to Him. I was called on to talk at my meeting on Wednesday, and I told everyone exactly what I am saying now. And many people came up to me afterwards and told me they could see the difference. That they could see the joy from inside, on the outside. I can't hide it. I feel joy. Not just happiness, even though I definitely have that in my life, but pure joy. Happiness is external. Joy is internal, and I can feel joy from loving him.

Does everyone get to feel this? People who find faith in God, do they all feel this? To this extent? To this degree? I sure hope so. Now I can understand what all the hype is about. This is real. I am so excited about this journey. This relationship. This love. This eternity.

Back in the day

In 2002, I drove the gymnastics van from Venice Beach to Spectrum Gym in the Valley to teach gymnastics to kids of Spectrum parents.

I pulled the van up to this door, unloaded all of the mats and springboards and beams. And then an hour later, I drove back.


And now I live 3 blocks away.

Who would've ever known 8 YEARS AGO that I would be living in my own home just a mile away from the place I had a part time job at, barely making rent.

CRAZY.

I have to say, there are so many things I am grateful for that happened during those 8 years to get me where I am today, with the people I have in my life today.

Rain = relaxing

An entire day FILLED with rain brought sooo many good things to me my family.

First, let's start by saying the kids didn't even wake up this morning until 8am, and they were both still in their own beds (sleep training last week worked wonders).

Then, Loudoun woke us up with breakfast in bed (triscuit sandwiches with cheese and ham slices) and a beautiful drawing:

Next, the kids let us go back to sleep until 10am, while they played in their room. And nothing was destroyed! After a normal eggs breakfast for everyone, and a couple of hours of watching the rain outside, the rain broke and Avalon and I took a walk in the stroller. She passed out within 5 minutes (she stayed up until 11pm the night before with Grandma babysitting), we walked for an hour, and cruised home because it started to rain again.

When we got home, she woke up in the stroller, cruised over to me on the couch, climbed on my lap, and fell asleep for another 2 hours.

 

I got a nap too, while Rick watched tivo'ed UFC. When we woke up, Loudoun requested watching Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, so we all vegged out and watched together.

 

After the movie, Loudoun, Daddy and I played Go Fish, and then the boys vegged out.

See a theme for today?? Now we just had bath time, Dad is cooking dinner, the kids and I are vegging out in the living room, and I am pretty darn content. After this last week of planning for my company Christmas party, I soooo needed a day of relaxing. Thank you, rain. You couldn't have come at a better time.

Who delivers Christmas trees?

Rick and I decided that "Christmas tree buying day" is split in 2. The first half, SUCKS. We always try our best to be festive and joyful and in the best of spirits. Seriously, we tackle this shopping task on a day we start out well, with the kids in great moods, with good weather, and positive attitudes.

But without fail, it always ends up frustrating the H*LL out of us. Maybe it's the anticipation, but no matter how hard we try to fight the frustration, we both get super grumpy and LOSE it. The tree stump is crooked, or the branches are lopsided, or how are we going to get it into the SUV, or why won't the straps keep it tied to the top of the car? Why is the customer service rep talking on his cell phone? Why did L just stick his hand in tree sap and rub it all over me? Wait, the stand we have at home doesn't fit the stump, now we have to go back. And one light bulb is cracked, we have to get another set.

Just when we think we are going to strangle each other, we realize once again, we were sucked into grumpy tree-buying mode, and we laugh it off and apologize profusely to each other for almost ruining the day. and THEN we enter the 2nd half of the day. The fun decorating, energetic, meaningful family-time where we're all standing around the tree, hanging up ornaments, singing to Christmas songs, and enjoying each other's company.

Maybe next year we should just have a tree delivered. Nah, we have too much fun getting through the grump.

Of course CHEEZY worked

We used the Sleep Easy Solution book for sleep training Avalon as a baby. It worked great! When we read through the book, we noticed every section had two areas of focus: Crib sleepers and toddler bed sleepers. Of course at age 6 months we had no need for the bed sleeping aspect of it, so we skimmed over it. And until we moved into our house in July, we didn't think we would ever need  the book again. But things change.

So, when we moved into our house, Avalon wanted to stay sleeping in Loudoun's room. It's what she knew. Totally cool with us. Besides, Loudoun's room is right across the hall from our room, so it meant we could hear both kids easier through the night. It was also the time we transitioned her into a big girl bed. She was climbing like crazy and the crib concept  was never going to work again.

Loudoun always comes into our bed around 4 or 5am. We love this. It's our snuggle time for the few hours before everyone has to get up. Almost from the get-go, Avalon started coming in as well....only at 11pm, right as we were going to bed. Not cool. At first we tolerated it, but she doesn't sleep well in between us...she kicks, she sleeps sideways, she asks for juice 6 times a night, and we were going crazy. Wide awake crazy.

So, 2 nights ago we decided we had to sleep train her again. Obviously, she had lost her ability to put herself back to sleep on her own, in her own bed. So I busted out the sleep training book again, to read the toddler bed section. Rick and I read it together. The book suggested that once the toddler gets out of her bed and comes over to the side of your bed, you need to say, "Ooops! It looks like you accidentally got out of bed! Let Mommy put you back."

Rick and I got the biggest kick out this advice. I mean, how cheesy can you sound in the middle of the night talking to your sleepy toddler? "Oooooooooh, look how you accidentally got out of bed!" Who knows if she even knows what accidentally means. But, since the book worked so well for the baby stage, we decided to move forward. Of course, I had no idea how I was going to say it outloud without laughing.

So, sure enough, she popped into our room at 11:30. "Avalon, oooops! It looks like, chuckle, chuckle, you accidentally, BUAH HA HA, got out of your bed! Let Daddy Mommy take you back."

I put her back in bed as she was kicking, crying and screaming, walked out and closed her door (as the book also suggests). As I crawled back into my bed, Rick and I heard her walking towards her closed bedroom door, crying and upset.

But THEN, after only about 30 seconds of crying, she turned around, walked back to her bed, crawled in, wimpered for 10 seconds, and fell back asleep.

Wha??

Are you kidding me?

The cheesy line worked? Even through my chuckles and giggles?

Rick and I were shocked. We sat there laughing about it for a good 10 minutes. But that was it, because we needed to get our sleep, for we all know that sleep training lasts many times throughout the night. 4 to be exact on this occasion. Although, she still ended up in our bed somewhere around 2am, except I didn't wake up for it because she was sneaky enough to climb up at the foot of the bed.

That was 2 nights ago, and we had even better luck last night. Hopefully, in 1 or 2 more attempts, we'll have an independently-sleeping little girl....Who crawls in at no earlier than 4am to snuggle with all of us until we have to get up and start our day.

Help us build a well for the Holidays!

This holiday season we're giving up toys, purses, video games, clothes, jewelry and tools. Instead our goal is to help build a well for a community that needs fresh water. So much so, that their lives depend on it. My family is very excited about this project, and I hope you will be, too!

The RRLA Project