Proud.

In the past year 2 months, my baby bro has graduated college, bought a house, and proposed to his girlfriend.  He has also built two fantastic drawing easels that he gifted for Christmas.  One for Emma & one for me.  I mean it when I say FANTASTIC.  Better than what you would buy at the store.  Better than you could get online.  I mean, just...great.

He grew up with me.  We were (are) close.  He knows I studied art for some time.  He knows I have a (small) talent in drawing.  He knows I still have my stash of drawings from the art shows framed in the black matte boards.  (And that I'm still proud of them, even if they are 10+ years old.)  He knew that easel would make me happy by jump-starting the creative sector of my brain.  Plainly put - it was a good gift.

So, now he goes and does something even better.  He called me tonight to ask "if I would like to take their engagement photos".  I mean, this is a big deal for me.  My brain is on overdrive trying to be creative & different without taking away from what the pictures actually stand for.  It's a bigger deal because he is the photographer of the family.  I took classes in high school & worked for the paper.  I've spent time in a dark room & learned about f-stops.  But he's a different story.  He's just flat.out.good.  He's got the eye for it.  It comes very naturally to him.  So, I've got a big job coming up.  I've got to kill these shots.

Isn't this fun? :)

Update

Let's see how I'm doing shall we?

These were my "Before the New Year Resolutions":

--Cloth Diapers.--

If all goes as planned, Deaners should have cloth-to-tush by Monday morning.  I did not invest (yes, invest would have been appropriate here) in the fancy-shmancy cloth diapers.  I started talking to my mom about how much those were (twelve diapers for $275), and she said in such simple words "Why don't you just use the cloth diapers we used on you?"  Like, duh.  They worked for her.  They worked for everyone at some point.  Believe it or not, there was once a world that didn't have disposable/non-biodegradable diapers.  So we went shopping for them.  Then, I bought 12 diapers for $12.99.   Like I said, cloth-to-tush by Monday my friends.

--Baby Dean's Photo Album.--

Fail.  Although, the album is purchased & the pictures are printed.

--Credit Card.--(Stop using)

Success! The only time it has been used is for a lousy hospital bill that won't. go. away.  No funsies.

--Finances.--(Stop spending so much darn money.)

Success.  We have been living on a tight budget, and it's been okay.  Different, but okay.  I haven't transferred money out of our savings account once.  I know it's only been a month, but hey, that's 29 days and counting.

--Garage.--(Clean it out.)

Success!  Cars are parked.  Big items are out.  Now we just wait for spring and take care of the rest.

How 'bout dem apples?

I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself here.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

dangit.

Well.  well.  well.

I was supposed to have internet today.  Like, my own.  In my house.  For me to use whenever I want.

But...there is no signal.  Sad face.

So, I'm hoping the Comcast employee knocking on my door Saturday anytime between 5pm and 7pm will be able to fix it.

Please, oh please.

Resolve.

I never had the chance to post my new years resolutions, so here goes.

1.  Simplify.  I've said this before, and I've been working on it.  I have been getting rid of stuff I don't need/use/want/wear and it's been easier to manage what I have.  The main idea with this first resolution is to not buy crap.  Yeh, I know.  You're thinking "Uh, Lauren, why would you buy crap?"  I buy things.  Like, things that might look cute some day on some wall in some room in my house.  And then I never put them up, or I decide on something else, or some other stupid excuse.  I buy it because I don't want to miss out on the chance to buy this really cute thing, but then it results in clutter and wasted money.

2.  Save money.  And this doesn't necessarily mean seeing my bank account balances go up.  It means not using my credit card.  Therefore not paying bajillin % interest on those purchases.  This also means not transferring money out of my savings.  So even though I might not be crediting my account, I'm not debiting either.  It's been 11 days, and I've already talked myself out of charging something 3 times.  It's going to be a challenge, but it was time for a change.  Hopefully a change that will add up.  (pun intended)

3.  Shut up.  I realized that I will tell you my opinion on something, anything, whether you asked for it or not.  You will say "My favorite movie is Twilight." and I will say "OMG mine too!  Isn't Edward hot?"  Or (and this happens more than the other) you will say "I love Grey's Anatomy!" and I will say "I think that's the worst show on television."  Nope.  You didn't ask.  We weren't having a conversation about which tv show we think is the worst.  I just jumped in and told you what I thought.  Rude.  I am so rude.  I only get one day a week where I actually get to conversate with adults, and that's what I do.  So, even if I have to wear duct tape on my mouth to shut me up, then so be it.  And that's what I think about that.

Eleven days down.  Three hundred fifty four days to go.

The calm before the storm.

Every morning I wake up, drink my coffee, get the kids out of jammas, and attempt to put myself together.

Every afternoon, we drive around and get some errands done, or we bake cookies, or we lounge around in our jammas and play with doll babies.  We take naps.  Long naps.  Deaners takes two or three.  It's calm and quiet - usually.  It's a time to make a mess and just be together.  I like to refer to this time as the calm before the storm.  Because the time that follows is, well, insane.

I try to have dinner done by 6:30, which is usually the time D comes home.  From about the time I start cooking, through dinner, and during clean up - this is Deaners "fussy time".  He wants me to hold him, wants me to play peek-a-boo with him, wants me to NOT PUT HIM DOWN.

This proves to be difficult for making said dinner.

So we usually eat separately because we're being pulled in two different directions, by two different kids.

Then, it's bathtime while David cleans up.  I've got this down to a science.  Emma has daddy "time us" so we can see how fast we can take a bath.  This was a genius moment for me.  We take record fast baths, and Emma treats it like a game.  One point for me.

Then Deaners gets a bath and bottle, then he finally lays down for bed without crying his head off.

Emma follows suit.

By this time, if everything goes smoothly [well, as smoooth as it can], then we finally sit down on the couch around 8:30-8:45.  "Hey hunny, how was your day?" comes two hours after David gets home.  Bedtime comes about 10 minutes after that.

I get a great satisfaction from knowing my kiddos are going to bed all clean and fresh, but man oh man, it's a stressful part of my day.

I realize this will get better once Deaners can eat our food at dinner time and can entertain himself while I make dinner.

But for now, I'll just ride the tide.