sleep

This isn't a happy post, so be forwarned. As many of you know, I value sleep like nothing else. More than most, I need sleep, and I need a lot of it. My bedtime is typically 9pm. Within the past couple of months, I've been battleing insomnia on and off. It comes in spurts. For instance, in the past week, it has typically taken me 2-5 hours to fall asleep. Last night, I got one hour of sleep...total (4-5am). It has been extremely discouraging and depressing for me. I'm not stressed or anxious about anything. I'm not worried about something in particular when I go to bed (except a little anxious that I'll actually fall asleep).

I'm not simply writing this to complain. I honestly would like some input from others who have struggled with this or know of others who have. A friend suggested I see an Endocronologist to get my hormone levels tested. She said 50% of thyroid problems are diagnosed after women stop breastfeeding (which would coincide with what I am dealing with).

Anyway, sorry to be a downer, but if any of you have any advice, please send it my way. Thanks.

the duck pond

"...feed the birds, toppins a bag...toppins, toppins, toppins a bag..."
-Mary Poppins (scene where the bird lady is feeding birds outside a church...not my favorite scene of the movie, but an appropriate line for my blog!)

that one ornament

Tonight we put up our Christmas tree. For some, this might seem a tad early. I think Thanksgiving weekend is the best possible time. That way you can enjoy your tree for a full month.



One of my favorite parts of Christmas decorating is putting up our ornaments. There are two ways of decorating. Some coordinate their trees and have "themes", including matching bows, similar ornaments, etc. The other way, which just happens to be our way growing up, is to take every single ornament, from the one you made in kindergarten, to the ugly one you got in some random gift exchange, and cram them all on the tree. There is nothing wrong with option one, but I much prefer option two because there are soooo many memories attached to each ornament. I love unpacking each one and recalling where I got it. Tonight, Chris wasn't too into this, so I proceeded to decorate while he watched TV, asking him to pause every once and a while to explain the history of a specific ornament to him.

Below is my and my sister's all time favorite ornament. Why? I have no clue. It is not that pretty, is yellowed with age, and has most of the glitter rubbed off. But we absolutely love it. I'm not quite sure how I got lucky enough to get it, but I'm not complaining! Happy decorating everyone!

on his way!

As I write, Chris is on his way home from a weekend in North Carolina. He was in a friend's wedding and had a great time. Cam and I did great, however we sure did miss him. Luckily, Chris had no delays, despite traveling home on the busiest day of the year. Unfortunately, the day Chris left, Cam decided to take his first steps!! I was sooo excited, but super bummed that Chris missed it. He has been quite picky about when he chooses to walk, but I'm sure it is only a matter of time until he is all over the place!

I realized upon downloading my pictures that my grand intentions of taking a bunch over Thanksgiving amounted to not a whole lot. I feel like that happens a lot with me. I can't tell you how many times I've taken the camera somewhere and ended up leaving with taking either no pictures or only a few. Anyway, here are a couple cute ones.



Cameron and his two cousins, Hannah and Lauren

outdoors

I'll blog about our Thanksgiving once I get the pictures downloaded. I just read a very interesting article that my mom gave me. It talked about the importance of having our kids play outdoors in nature. The emphasis was on nature, not just playing outside on the street with your bike (while that is obviously very beneficial for other reasons). Kids' minds grow and stretch so much when they are forced to use their imagination to create games, build forts, etc. We live pretty close to some great mountain communities. This article made me more motivated to be proactive about getting Cam up in nature...especially as he gets older. Here is an excerpt. The first part is a question asked by the article's author to the "expert".

"...the obesity epidemic coincides with a record high increase in organized sports for kids. how does tat correlate with the need for more outdoor play?"

"...in organized sports, kids often have little actual playtime. But watch a group of children in a wooded area, and you'll see them running, climbing over things, and then dashing over to whatever captures their attention next...last summer, my sons built a fort out of storage pallets and hay at our ranch. That project took them all weekend. They were like beavers, constantly moving back and forth between our barn and the woods. Sports are more about following directions to the letter. They're great for discipline...but they don't leave from for the imagination."

thanksgiving

We are headed up to Fresno for a few days to visit Chris's family. We are leaving soon after the Thanksgiving meal on Thursday to head home because Chris leaves for N. Carolina on Friday for a friend's wedding. The next few days will be filled with non-stop fabulous, scrumptious food. To be honest, I'm not much of a Thanksgiving meal fan except for the stuffing and homeade rolls. Honestly, I don't even put any turkey on my plate. I'd much rather fill up on other things. I mean, what is that special about turkey? Frankly, I think it has little taste and can be eaten year round by ordering a turkey sandwich at Subway!

Anyway, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and I'm sure I'll have a lot of pictures to post upon my return.

tipping

Pre-Cam, I used to be very anti take out from a restaurant. Getting food to go from a fast food place was fine. But if I was going to spend $10 on my meal, I wanted the package to include sitting down at the restaurant, enjoying the atmosphere and company. Well, along with MANY other opinions/views that have changed since giving birth, this did too. Because we don't go out to eat much, it is a super treat when we get take out from a restaurant. Typically the only place we do this is Claim Jumpers (and really we only get this a couple times a month) because they have the most incredible chicken salad sandwich. Actually at this very moment I'm chomping at the bit waiting for Chris to finish putting Cam down so we can eat!!

So onto my topic. I used to think that tipping on to-go food was lame. I mean, our waiter didn't have to "wait" on us, right? However after talking to a friend, who was a former waitress, I changed my mind. She said that preparing a to-go order is much more work than waiting on you at a table. It makes sense when you think about it. They have to box up each individual side, include napkins, silverware, etc. When you are at the restaurant, they just bring it out on the plate! So we have started tipping, which is kind of a bummer, because then I'm really paying exactly what I would if we ate there, with none of the perks!

This got me thinking about tipping. Do you tip at Starbucks? If you do, what if you pay with a gift card? Sometimes I do think tipping has gotten a little out of hand. What makes someone at Starbucks more deserving than someone putting together my hamburger at Carl's Jr.?? Thoughts?

groundbreaking news!!!

Today as we were headed to the doc, a woman made a comment about how hard it must be to carry such a big baby. She was a very sweet lady and we kidded about how large he is for his age. We then got on the subject of walking and how he has yet to take his first steps. Honestly, I'm ok that he is going to be a late walker. They say that you shouldn't worry until they get to 18 months, so we have 3 1/2 to go! Anyway, this nice lady decided to give me some sage advice about how to speed along the process. You see, according to her, I simply need to, "wash him in dirty dish water". Yes, you read correctly. She actually suggested bathing him in some spaghetti, casserole (or fill in the blank with whatever you like) water. Now, why on earth didn't I think of that? It makes complete sense, right??? :)

realistic expectations

Last weekend while I was in Palm Springs, Chris took Cam up to Oak Glen. He said Cam loved it and spent most of the time walking around a little bench in the meadow right outside one of the restaurants. So we decided to pack a picnic and head up there today. It didn't turn out quite like we thought. He lasted about half and hour before we packed up to come home. For some reason, he just wasn't into it and was pretty fussy.

To be honest, we were both frustrated. We had been looking forward to this and were excited to go as a family. As we talked about it on the way home, we both agreed that many times we set our expectations too high when it comes to doing things with Cam. We forget the fact that he is a baby. Babies are unpredictable and won't always enjoy things we think they will. Don't get me wrong, we do a lot of fun things with him that he thoroughly enjoys. But to be honest, there are many times also that we have had to cut something short, or not do it at all simply because he is in an off mood, didn't nap well, etc.

If we had simply viewed today as a nice chance to get outside and introduce Cam to something new, rather than think we would stay there for a long time and Cam would love every minute of it, we would have had a much better time and attitude. It was a good lesson to learn. We still were able to get some good pictures.

swiss family robinson

I just left the video store in search of the movie, "The Waitress". I'm a Keri Russell fan (from the good ol' Felicity days). Unfortunately they didn't have it. I looked around, but could not find something that I could justify spending $4 on. I know, I'm cheap. But I HATE the feeling of flipping on a movie, not liking it, and knowing I wasted $4. We rarely rent movies anymore...thanks to our trustee Tivo. Anyway, I got to thinking about those movies that, when you see them, remind you of your childhood. Here are a few of mine:

*Swiss Family Robinson-my favorite part was the end where they had a family race riding animals.
*The Nombmobile (sp?)-I barely remember this one. I just remember lots of pixies, which I thought were ultra cool!
*Sound of Music-Chris hasn't seen this, which I think is a crime. Even more of a crime is that he has no desire to see it.
*Flight of the Navigator-I thought Sara Jessica Parker was SO cool in this, despite her small role.
*Pollyana
*Summer Magic-few have heard of this movie. It is a GREAT Haley Mills classic.

schedule

I'm copying my sister's idea and posting my schedule. I found hers to be an interesting read. This is a typical day, however the past few days have been a little out of the ordinary as we are having some adjustment issues with daylight savings (for instance, Cam's 4:00 wake time this morning!).

6:00- Wake up. Yes, this is early, I realize. However this is the schedule I have chosen as I enjoy my evenings. I'm more than willing to wake up early in order to have my evenings free.
6:15- Go for walk
7:00-9:00- Breakfast, play time: read books, play with toys, let him chase balls ALL over the kitchen floor :)
9:00-10:00- nap- although sometimes this is only 30 minutes :( After having my daily cup of hot chocolate, I have my quiet time, email, and watch a little TV.
10:00-1:00- Typically we'll go to the park and swing and have more play time, then eat lunch. A couple days a week Chris will go with us and we'll go to lunch somewhere like fast food or Costco.
1:00-1:30- Nap
1:30-5:30- This time typically consists of another walk, running errands and more play time.
5:30- Dinner for Cam and play time until bed
6:30- Bath and bottle (Chris does this Mon, Wed, and Fri.)
7:00- Bed for Cam and free time for us, including a relaxing dinner. :)
9 or 9:30- bed time for me. Chris typically goes to bed with me, however will watch TV until he is ready as he would never fall asleep so early!

Notes: Once a week we to go Gymboree, which Cam loves! Every other week we'll go to MOPS on Friday. Right now, the park consists only of swinging and going down the slide. Once he can walk, we'll be able to do more things. I have a play area downstairs in the living room and upstairs in the loft. This way, we vary the toys. He spends A LOT of time in the kitchen chasing balls that he throws. This is a favorite pastime!

That is a typical day. Yes, it isn't that exciting in print, but I honestly enjoy my days with Cam, as well as my free evenings. Here are a couple pictures at the park.

Palm Springs

Jen and I went to Palm Springs for the weekend. Saturday we drove to the Marriott (we didn't stay here, but this is our all time favorite hotel) and relaxed by the pool for a while. Later we went shopping and out to dinner at Cheesecake Factory (Orange Chicken...AMAZING!). After dinner we headed back to the hotel, watched some TV, and fell asleep...at about 9:00. Yes, 9:00. Of course I was all for an early bedtime! Fortunately since Jen is pregnant, she was more than willing oblige.



Sunday morning we walked to the Coffee Bean for breakfast. Here we are sitting next to the beloved Lucille Ball.



We then relaxed for a while in our room (and painted our toes)and headed home, making a most productive stop at Cabizon on the way. It was a wonderful weekend and so incredibly relaxing for me. Here are a few things I enjoyed that I rarely get to do, now that Cam is in the picture (however I sure did miss him!):

*Reading magazines while sitting in the pool
*Eating my meals at my own pace
*Taking my time while shopping and actually getting to try things on
*Waking up in the morning and staying in bed for as long as I wanted
*Enjoying sitting at a coffee shop for an extended period of time

Ultimately, I'm so thankful to have had a friend, like Jen, to spend this time with. I feel so lucky that we have remained close for the past 15 years. Despite going through different phases of our lives at different times, our friendship has never wavered and I feel so lucky to have her in my life.

p.s. Thanks also to my great husband for taking Cam-duty for the weekend. They had a good time with one another and it was so nice to not have to worry one bit about my little boy.

question

Would you rather be given $5000, or given the opportunity to have dinner with anyone you would like, BUT not be able to tell anyone about your meeting??

Thinking this through, let's say you would want to meet George Bush. Imagine having a great conversation with him, getting lots of answers to your questions etc., but then having to keep that amazing experience completely to yourself. For me, half the fun of doing something cool is the sharing of it with others! It would be torture to not tell your family/friends all about it. Maybe torture enough to rather just have the $5000!!