Josh and I recently celebrated our 6th year anniversary and it was SO blog-worthy but I am just now sitting down to write about it. You see, Josh did it up right after a pretty darn stressful year, sometimes you just gotta celebrate, right?
The most amazing thing about this is Josh surprised me. Which he NEVER does. Not that he doesn't try, I just normally figure it out. I had made plans for the kids to stay with my mom thinking that we could at least go to dinner and a movie and sleep in (woohoo!). I had told J that all I wanted for my anniversary was to not have to make a decision. And man, I sure didn't! We dropped the kids off at my moms and we were free. I was told to dress cozy/cute so I was thinking maybe a sporting event or something. Anyway, we took off to OKC. We passed the south side, Bass Pro, Bricktown and finally exited on NW 63rd. I'm still thinking dinner when we pulled into the Waterford Marriott, where we spent our wedding night. I was told by J on the way there that there were two rules, one, I have to do whatever is planned with no concerns about money/time or whatever and two, no talking about the kids. DONE!
SO, back to the hotel. We pulled in and just walked into the hotel. With my purse. That's it. J checked in and we headed up to our suite. When we got there I saw white gift sacks and our luggage. J said that I had about an hour to get ready and handed me a sack. Inside was a new black dress for dinner. He said he had all my toiletries and make up and jewelry options and even shoes waiting. SERIOUSLY?
So I got ready, yes, the dress fit, J knew that b/c he had compared it with another dress of mine... wo.. and we got in the car for dinner. J dropped me off at the door of my most favorite restaurant in the whole wide world- The Melting Pot. We were there before our reservations so of course, we hung out in the bar and enjoyed some wine...Until my mother called- Lyla was having diarrhea every where. Great. So much for rule number 2...Despite a sick baby dinner was awesome and even though they are no longer serving my most favorite dessert ever we had a wonderful time!
After dinner we went back to the hotel where there was a jazz band and champagne. We tried real hard to not worry about L and just sit back and have a relaxing time. Until we got tired. Of COURSE. We get time alone and fall asleep!
The next morning J brought me breakfast in bed and handed me another sack. This sack had cozy clothes in it. We had gone on an 8 mile run the day before so I was like, are we running again? No... We packed up and went to check out but not before a detour in the hotel's spa for a much needed couples massage. Remember, 8 mile run the day before. Perfect timing!
Our time was up after that, but it was SUCH a perfect night I told J we can just do that every year!
Friday, March 23, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
Somethings a little wrong with me...
Ever since I became pregnant with Carson I have realized that I am a little...uh...slower...mentally. During pregnancy everyone referred to it as "pregnancy brain", after pregnancy "exhaustion", 18 months later I was pregnant again, then exhausted, but now, almost TWO YEARS since having my last baby, I find myself still...slower...metally.
I constantly lose words. Which is tough and sometimes embarrassing for a college professor. I mean words I JUST said, I go to repeat them and POOF they are gone from my brain. I lose track of my thoughts during a story. I forget things like CRAZY before leaving the house in the morning. Names are just a lost cause. Getting everything off my grocery list is a thing of the past. Feeling mentally stable in general, is well done for.
Since I can not longer blame it on "pregnancy brain" or even "exhaustion" thanks to my wonderful sleepers, I started thinking elsewhere. And I have come up with "Multi-tasking Overload" as my official diagnosis. What the *$%# is that? Well, here's my explanation and there are two main parts...
The minute a mom becomes pregnant she no longer EVER loses her child from her thoughts. EVER. We become very egocentric and feel everything is about us, and that everyone know we are pregnant, even if we don't look it a bit. We NEVER EVER EVER stop thinking about that baby. Ever. Then when the baby is actually born, it goes into over drive. Now not only do we think about the baby, we worry about their safety, replay their morning behavior in our mind all day, wonder what they are doing if we are away from them, think about what we are going to do after school, we plan birthdays 6 months in advance, fret about scrapbooks, or new clothes, or extra curricular activities. We worry about our sick kids if we have to leave them behind, we wonder if our kids are having fun at school. We think about our love for them. They NEVER. EVER. LEAVE. OUR. MINDS. even if we ARE focusing on something that is OURS. Our job, our friends, our spouse, shopping. We always have them in the corner of our mind.
Then on top of that, since having Carson, Facebook and Iphones have taken over our lives. We now know more about our friends lives than we EVER have. Hear more news than EVER, work can always track us down, we have access to our emails on our phones, our phones are most always in our hands, it has become normal to have a conversation with a girlfriend while emailing, texting, checking facebook. Two girls, carrying on a conversation with our faces in our phones due to one of the many things the phone allows us to do. And we of course also parent while looking over an Iphone or Ipad... We feel productive. We feel efficient. We feel like we can do it all. We multi-task like MAD!
But how is that interfering with our ability to just focus? Between kids on my brain at all times, wondering if anyone commented on my super cute pic of my kids, or replied to my text about babysitting for me tonight, or to the email I sent to co-workers, trying to remember to blog about the funny thing the kids did that morning or to upload pics for family to see, my brain NEVER focuses on just one thing. Cognitive overload the books would call it, but that applies to so much more. I feel MY problem is just due to doing SO DARN MANY THINGS AT ONCE thanks to technology and having children.
Am I saying that I don't WANT my Facebook or email on my phone? HECK NO!!! This is the world we live in. I teach online, I work at home, I need to be reached. I am just simply wondering when my brain is going catch up to me. Or if there is a way to learn to focus again, or if that was lost when I became a mom... I mean even while typing this, I am talking with C, disciplining L and checking emails from work. Seriously- multi-tasking overload.
I constantly lose words. Which is tough and sometimes embarrassing for a college professor. I mean words I JUST said, I go to repeat them and POOF they are gone from my brain. I lose track of my thoughts during a story. I forget things like CRAZY before leaving the house in the morning. Names are just a lost cause. Getting everything off my grocery list is a thing of the past. Feeling mentally stable in general, is well done for.
Since I can not longer blame it on "pregnancy brain" or even "exhaustion" thanks to my wonderful sleepers, I started thinking elsewhere. And I have come up with "Multi-tasking Overload" as my official diagnosis. What the *$%# is that? Well, here's my explanation and there are two main parts...
The minute a mom becomes pregnant she no longer EVER loses her child from her thoughts. EVER. We become very egocentric and feel everything is about us, and that everyone know we are pregnant, even if we don't look it a bit. We NEVER EVER EVER stop thinking about that baby. Ever. Then when the baby is actually born, it goes into over drive. Now not only do we think about the baby, we worry about their safety, replay their morning behavior in our mind all day, wonder what they are doing if we are away from them, think about what we are going to do after school, we plan birthdays 6 months in advance, fret about scrapbooks, or new clothes, or extra curricular activities. We worry about our sick kids if we have to leave them behind, we wonder if our kids are having fun at school. We think about our love for them. They NEVER. EVER. LEAVE. OUR. MINDS. even if we ARE focusing on something that is OURS. Our job, our friends, our spouse, shopping. We always have them in the corner of our mind.
Then on top of that, since having Carson, Facebook and Iphones have taken over our lives. We now know more about our friends lives than we EVER have. Hear more news than EVER, work can always track us down, we have access to our emails on our phones, our phones are most always in our hands, it has become normal to have a conversation with a girlfriend while emailing, texting, checking facebook. Two girls, carrying on a conversation with our faces in our phones due to one of the many things the phone allows us to do. And we of course also parent while looking over an Iphone or Ipad... We feel productive. We feel efficient. We feel like we can do it all. We multi-task like MAD!
But how is that interfering with our ability to just focus? Between kids on my brain at all times, wondering if anyone commented on my super cute pic of my kids, or replied to my text about babysitting for me tonight, or to the email I sent to co-workers, trying to remember to blog about the funny thing the kids did that morning or to upload pics for family to see, my brain NEVER focuses on just one thing. Cognitive overload the books would call it, but that applies to so much more. I feel MY problem is just due to doing SO DARN MANY THINGS AT ONCE thanks to technology and having children.
Am I saying that I don't WANT my Facebook or email on my phone? HECK NO!!! This is the world we live in. I teach online, I work at home, I need to be reached. I am just simply wondering when my brain is going catch up to me. Or if there is a way to learn to focus again, or if that was lost when I became a mom... I mean even while typing this, I am talking with C, disciplining L and checking emails from work. Seriously- multi-tasking overload.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Realizations
I had to take a minute to blog this morning before diving in to essays from my online class (yikes!) not because I'm feeling overwhelmed and frusterated by my kids but because I am having one of those days that I just feel thankful, and for strange things. I realized this morning that there are some things my kids do that on most days annoy me, or GET annoying, but that real soon won't happen and I'll be lonely.
For example, SOMEDAY, I will be lonely when I take a bath. All by myself. With no little heads peeping over the top or asking if they can wash my back or get in. I'll be wastful when I don't "recycle" my bath water b/c Carson wants to get in THAT water to take HIS bath. I'll be super lonely and bored on those days J goes to work early and I get up on a day off and don't have to make two breakfasts, two drinks, two hot chocolates, change diapers or have TWO sweet babies fighting to sit on my lap.
I am going to be so lonely driving around town running my errands without answering 100 quetions from the backseat. I'll be lonely going to the gym all by myself, grocery shopping alone,or having a meal. It'll be so strange to listen to my music, watch my shows, be out of the house after dark. I won't get compliments every morning about my shoes, or my sweater, or my hair. I won't get to wake up in the morning to an additional person in my bed. And what will I do when I have to go to the BATHROOM by myself?!?!?!
So today, rather than being frusterated because I have NO alone time. I choose to realize that someday I will miss it, I will be lonely, and that I need to soak it up right now.
For example, SOMEDAY, I will be lonely when I take a bath. All by myself. With no little heads peeping over the top or asking if they can wash my back or get in. I'll be wastful when I don't "recycle" my bath water b/c Carson wants to get in THAT water to take HIS bath. I'll be super lonely and bored on those days J goes to work early and I get up on a day off and don't have to make two breakfasts, two drinks, two hot chocolates, change diapers or have TWO sweet babies fighting to sit on my lap.
I am going to be so lonely driving around town running my errands without answering 100 quetions from the backseat. I'll be lonely going to the gym all by myself, grocery shopping alone,or having a meal. It'll be so strange to listen to my music, watch my shows, be out of the house after dark. I won't get compliments every morning about my shoes, or my sweater, or my hair. I won't get to wake up in the morning to an additional person in my bed. And what will I do when I have to go to the BATHROOM by myself?!?!?!
So today, rather than being frusterated because I have NO alone time. I choose to realize that someday I will miss it, I will be lonely, and that I need to soak it up right now.
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