Month: January 2015

January 31, 2015

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Here we are the last day of January.   We are already finished with the first month of the new year.  The time of transitions as we shift from focus on holidays and celebrating with family and friends.  The new year shiny and bright.
Our first month of the year brought a lot of things to my family.  On the first of January we celebrated the 14th birthday of our beloved dog, Cody, in memoriam having lost him the month before.  In thinking of Cody, on this day we added a new dog to our family.  A 2-1/2 year old German Short-haired Pointer, named Freidmann.  Since picking him on New Year’s day we had a few days as a family for him to acclimate to us and bond with our other dog, our 19- month old Weimaraner, Pepper.
two happy dogs 1-1-15
January was a return to our schedule, our routine.  Back to work for my husband and back to school for our two girls.  Back to volunteering in classrooms for me and stepping up the planning of our school’s fundraising Gala/Auction which I am the chair.
In January we returned to the routine of after school activities as well, both girls restarted their ballet classes and Girl Scouts was back on the schedule.
The weather tricked us in January with very cold and frosty mornings, tulle fog on some days and warmer afternoons.  In fact, this last week has been in the 70s in the daytime.  AND the sun is starting to stay out later longer, now setting well after 5PM which shows the promise of Spring and Summer coming sooner than later.
Now that we are back in the swing of things, our life has taken on its natural hum of doing and going.   But there have been a few days scattered here and there that I was going through the motions.  Suddenly stuck unable to get more than simple tasks done.  Was it the gloomy weather or something else?
I will say with the sun and warm of this last week, I have a feeling of lightness and happiness!  Funny how weather can affect you.  This time of year when the weather is warm and nice is also the return of children’s voices outside.  Our girls and the neighbors playing, playing all day long!
So as we end January,  I look forward to February and what’s in store that is known,  and not known for our family.
How is the start of your New Year going?

we’ve put Christmas 2014 away (finally)

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It’s always hard for me to say goodbye to Christmas.  Our house always feels and looks lonely when all the decorations are put away for another year.  We usually wait for Little Christmas (12 days of Christmas, Epiphany) to take it all down.  This year we went another week longer as we couldn’t quite say goodbye yet to the holiday and it’s decorations.

christmas ornament storage

Our family had a wonderful Christmas with visiting family (Grammy & Truckie) as well as time spent with friends.  Both our girls still believe in Santa and the magic of our Elf on the Shelf, Earl.  Their beliefs help propel both my husband and I into the spirit of the holidays.  We also get to spend a lot of uninterrupted time together too.  My husband takes the week between Christmas and New Year’s off and, of course, our girls are off from school.

So it is another year we pack away with memories.  I wonder next year will our girls still have their belief of the wonder of Christmas?  We will have to see what the year ahead brings for them in their lives and where that will take us for the next Holidays.

Have you packed up your holidays yet?

The birds & bees talk continues

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talkin-bout-the-birds-and-the-bees

I did blush, well internally for sure.  You see there was never any talk about our bodies and what they do when I was growing up.  My mother signed the permission slip for first, the film strip in 4th grade, and then the movie in 5th grade about puberty and all that goes along with that.  When I got home after each event, she asked if I had any questions.  Yep that was the extent of my learning about my body and what it could do as a girl and woman.

We have taken a slightly different approach in our home.  We have regular matter of fact conversations and are open to questions about what is this and how does that work.  There may be days you may enter and hear a conversation about penises and vaginas.  I think back to when our oldest was just over 3 years old and asked me how she got into C’s tummy (her birth mother) yep that stumped me not so much the question but the age and it’s not the love and marriage conversation. After checking in with other mom friends who too are mothers through adoption I had a good response that I hoped would help answer her question with age appropriate discussion.  After that she followed up with a “how did I come out of there?” question which I could more easily answer since both my husband and I were at the hospital for her birth on C’s invitation.

We’ve been talking to our girls now 8 and 6 years old about what will be happening for them in the next few years as they reach puberty through some great books – The Care and Keeping of You 2 and It’s not the Stork. Our conversations have been on a question answer system as we read through these books and learn about what’s to come.

Recently we added a new dog to our family.  A 2-1/2 year old male German Short-haired Pointer, Freidmann.  He joins our other dog, Pepper a 19-month old female Weimaraner.  As the two dogs have been bonding, there have been more than playful encounters.  Ones where the male dog has jumped onto the rear of the female and it’s a bit more than fun and our girls have witnessed these moments.  It is now that this brings us to the next discussions about sex and procreation.  We shared age appropriately how a baby can be made.  After sharing what they witnessed and also letting them know humans do this too, they both seemed satisfied with the scientific details of the how since they had just witnessed two dogs trying the act.

Like other discussions in our home and our comfort of allowing questions of any kind, I think we are headed on the right path of knowledge for both our girls.  Giving them the info that will help them better understand themselves and what happens as they grow up.  The birds and bees are a part of our lives and not going away even if we shy away from these discussions.  I really don’t want our girls to learn this from their friends.  I am happy both my husband and I have the same belief about this.  After all he is surrounded by girls and it will be in his face whether he wants it to be or not.  This is the man early on in our relationship had to run to the store for me to get me tampons.  So you see he gets it on some level!

What do you share with your children about the birds and bees?

My word for 2015

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em·brace as defined by Google
əmˈbrās/
verb
  1. hold (someone) closely in one’s arms, especially as a sign of affection.
    “Aunt Sophie embraced her warmly”
    synonyms: hug, take/hold in one’s arms, hold, cuddle, clasp to one’s bosom,clasp, squeeze, clutch; More
  2. accept or support (a belief, theory, or change) willingly and enthusiastically.
    “besides traditional methods, artists are embracing new technology”
    synonyms: welcome, welcome with open arms, accept, take up, take to one’s heart, adopt; More

    I’ve never chosen a word to define how I would approach my New Year before.  I’ve always picked on a few resolutions that I thought I could maintain throughout the year but they usually fall to the wayside soon after or at least by mid-year.

    So this year at the beginning of 2015 I have chosen “Embrace” as defined above.

    For me I will start this year with an embrace to change both physical and psychological parts of me.  And by change I mean to handle differently.  I will work on embracing my body and health as they are, I am 51 and with that things are different then I was when I was 31.  In embracing who I am I will also embrace new ways to take care of myself both in eating habits and getting off the couch.

    I want to embrace ALL the relationships in my life with my husband, my girls and other family and friends.  Sometimes these relationships are taken for granted and I want to look through and keep the healthy happy relationships.  I want to both physically embrace these people in my life as well as support who they are in my life.

    From a parenting perspective I want to embrace the milestones and changes that each of our girls are experiencing.  Embrace their new selves and work with embracing who they are becoming.  I need to embrace these changes and challenge myself to change my parenting style to fit who they are becoming.

    I want to embrace our lives together in both a BIG HUG and support who we all are.

    I think this is a good challenge for me in these pivotal years of my girls as preadolescent and me as I make my ways through menopause.

    a new year quote

    I will check in on myself here from time to time to see how in line to my word of the year I am. I do after all have 365 days to embrace my word!

    Have you chosen a word for yourself for 2015?  Please share if you have.