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?