Growing Up...

Many of you saw my facebook status a few weeks ago...
"having a mommy moment... daycare wants to move Connor out of the infants room, he's feeding himself, and starting a sippy cup... where did my baby boy go!"

I cannot believe how fast Connor is growing! This picture was taken when he was 7months and I feel like that was ages ago. 


From this picture he's:

• gained two more teeth! (and cutting another!)
• crawled
• crawled upstairs
• pulls himself up on everything!
• moved daycare classrooms to the "walking" classroom
• feeds himself
• learning to drink from a sippy cup
• driven a car

Ok just kidding on the last one, however, it is amazing to watch him grow every single day! He's become a little person! Like many of your comments out there, you can relate to how fast they grow. 


We have friends who are adopting a baby from Ethiopia and in talking with them an interesting statement was made. They shared that they will have to parent different from what would be a "typical" raising of a baby. They said that we in america raise our kids to be independent and what we teach them leads to doing things on their own. They shared when you adopt a baby who has been in a over packed orphanage for the first months or years of their lives, you have to raise them to become dependent and trust in you. 


This was such as interesting point for me and hit on some truth. Every time Connor does something that helps advance him to being more of his own person we praise him. Not uncommon for him to hear "Yeah What a Big Boy!" and "Good Job Connor!" We do this because we want him to repeat a good behavior- and in most cases an independent behavior. 


But then we have our what I call, Mommy moments where we just want them to stay babies forever- dependent on us. Wow! Gives truth to the saying, whoever thought being a parent is easy is nuts! 

Maybe Its Time to Create A Little...

New Wall Color

So you could say I have a new interest, or should I say Pinterest! (if you have not checked out this website you should! It's pages and pages of ideas. I call it my virtual magazine clipping website for images, ideas and inspiration!)

I have been spending way too much time combing the pages and pages of images on this website, getting inspired and thinking.... maybe its time to create again.

I love creating. You name it- i'll try it. But lately, there has not been too much creating going on. (It may be due to work, school, and two cute men in my life) I think that I've just given it up to do other things and now it's coming back around.

I follow a few friends who are amazing at creating and being artists and I get so inspired and excited for them and always think- hey wait I can do that! (deep down- if I wasn't such an extrovert-  I would love to be paid a million dollars to decorate and design my house!)


So I guess I created a lot for Connor's room... and now I am thinking about the rest of the house. Mainly our downstairs, where we spend 90% of our time in our house. I'm finding so really cool ideas and now thinking about ways to put them into our home.

Now I have a way to make these!

One project I'm definitely going to try is this one! All it took was a tablecloth, varnish, and time! And it's perfect for our bedroom, where the dogs spend most of their day because it wipeable!

When I shared this with Joe he said "ummm... do I really want to know?" I say no, just give me a budget and creative freedom, Honey and I promise you will not only have a house but a home to be in with me and a cute little 9 month old!

We're redoing (and updating) one of the bathrooms in our house in the next two weeks. Time to start creating! I love how things come into my life at the right time to remind me of how to create things I love.

Here is a sneak peak of what I hope the place looks like when were done...

Over the window with a roman blind

dark cabinet with white counter and a new mirror

Back from the Land of Orientation

It's true, I have returned from a far away place called Orientation Land. While many school years gear up in September and die down in June, in the land of New Student Orientation, we gear up and stay up from May to September, leaving me in a land far, far away for a while. While I love this magical land I am always happy once mid-July rolls around because its like I emerge and the world is new again.

Professionally, I'm lucky. I am one of the fortunate few who's talents, passion, and job are all the same thing. And this summer I'm even luckier. For two years, I've been building a new program for orientation, including a fabulous leadership position for students, and this summer I ran it- with probably my best student staff ever. (So I have to add this in-- there are some of you reading this from my most favorite staff ever or you are one of my most favorite students ever. This is different than being on my best staff ever. Favorites are irreplaceable.)

How lucky am I? This got me thinking... how many people are working in areas they consider to be their passion or calling in life? This has come up as a leadership topic in a seminar I am participating in this year. I am interested to see, how many people know their passion for life? And how many people are brave enough to follow it?

One of my favorite questions to ask my students is "If you could get paid a million dollars, what would you do?" There answers usually give me a slight peek into their passion for life. I am working on writing more this summer and one thing I would like to do is hear more from the people reading this...

So I ask you, If you could get paid a million dollars to do something, what would you do?

An Old Attachment

The original. My was red.

Ok, so there are not many things in my life, (other than people) that have stayed constant since I started college. I've moved from Victorville to the OC. I moved three times in college- each time gathering and throwing away what I would need in my next living space. Then the BIG move came and I stuffed everything I owned in my little Honda Accord and drove it to Indiana. In the two years I was in grad school I moved 5 times, in and out of residence halls, in and out of temporary living spaces, and finally back to So Cal- only this time I moved across country with a fiancée, our cars stuffed full and my Honda towing a trailer. (Yeah!)

Got me through college.

Then came more res life living where Joe and I moved 2 more times in 3 years (well I guess 3 times because we did not stay in our Colorado apartment long.) And now FINALLY almost 3 years ago... we have settled. Bought a house, got a yard, garage, private laundry room (only res life people will understand the NEED for this.), and its our to paint, decorate, and enjoy!

First flip phone. 

I digress....back to my original statement (I just had to, for myself, list my history of moving) not many items, possessions, or places have stayed the same in the last 10+ years for me.... except for one thing. My cell phone number. Yes, that's right people, I, in all of my adventures, have had the same cell phone number since I started college and pretty much since the beginning of owning a cell phone. See, cell phone use got really popular when I moved to college and by the time I was done 4 years later, I didn't own a land line. And so because of the fact that it has been with me so long I'm a little attached. Actually ALOT.

My first Motorola Phone. Made me a motorola lover!

Here is why... the phone has been my main source of communication throughout all changes. Its was my facebook before facebook. It's how I learned about lives of others. It's how I stayed connected to family when I was in the middle of nowhere. Living far away never seemed as far when I could pick up the phone and here a voice almost instantly. And let's face it. I like to talk :-) And even now, its where I get messages and pictures about friends lives all across the country.

Joe laughs at me because there are a few things in my life I get attached to and when they are said and done I get a little emotional. Like my first credit card. It was an Anaheim Mighty Ducks credit card, I got on my own, at the only Ducks hockey game I have ever been to. I learned to manage finances on that card and it was mine. All mine. So when Joe and I combined our lives financially there was no need for the card anymore. And I cried when we cut it up.

Razr!

And now we are back to the cell phone number. I'm getting a work phone and no longer have a need for a personal cell phone which means for the first time in 10+ years my phone number will change. Now, I believe that I am pretty adaptable when it comes to change and in most of my life, I embrace it.
HOWEVER, THIS. IS. NOT. ONE. OF. THOSE. TIMES.
 Joe constantly shares with me all of my technology options for keeping a 714 area code, or making a cool number up through Google Voice, and that Google Voice has visual voice mail and cool text messaging features. BLAH. It's not the same. It never will be.

LOVED this phone! I spilled water on it and it never recovered. 

And so I have to say goodbye to what feels like an old friend, a companion, and accept a very hard change. This is the quote I say to my students "the only thing constant in change." Why did I ever think my cell number would be any different? I probably will cry as I hit send on the text message and emails that will go out with my new number and in a few years it won't matter to me as much. But in this day in life, where moving has been more constant than staying put, and life has open, written, and closed chapters, I think you have to find something to stay the same. Little did I know that the number I was assigned in 2000 would last this long and mean so much.

Had to get because of the water spill. Did not like. 

UPDATE!!!

Google Voice is amazing! You can actually port your cell phone numbers to a Google Voice number and then the number is yours now and forever more!!!! So this is what I have done. No need to say goodbye to what feels like an old friend! At last is MINE!

I went to a crackberry for awhile... but secretly I always wanted an iphone. 

And then I found my Droid X.... iphone, what Iphone?

Hope you enjoyed the history of my cell phones through pictures. There was one at the end of college that I could not find a picture of. It's crazy how much cell phones have changed!! For fun, in your free time, try to think about all the cell phones you may have owned. Can you find pictures of them? 

My 30 Day Challenge

Thanks to my wonderful friends and colleagues at Colorado State, I was challenged to participate in their 30 Day Challenge Program. The idea being you commit to doing something for 30 days straight that will better you or society, knowing that it takes 15 days to make or break a habit. Welcome to day 10 of my 30 days.

Meet my friend... Mr. Elipitical. He's my partner in this 30 day challenge. Well, one of my partners. My 30 day challenge goal was to do something active each day for 30 days.

See before Mr. Connor came along, I was in really good shape. Probably the best shape I had been in since high school. I had lost weight, toned up, and was super committed to working out every chance I could. And with a free gym 20 steps from my office, it was easy to stay motivated.

Well then pregnancy came, and with it was the uncertainty of workout and the impact it could have on the baby. Just like with most things baby related, there are opposing answers to every question and you have to find what works for you. Well then work got busy, my feet swelled, and even walking became a chore so working out was not in the cards. Then the little man came and poof, its six months later and time to get motivated again.

So on day 10 I am happy to report that I have done something each day to be more active than a normal day (Joe and I walk a little less than a mile to work from our bus stop everyday so this is above that.)

Here's the other thing about this challenge, I HATE running. No seriously, running and I don't get along. Never in this lifetime will we be friends and want to spend all of our time together. However, running on Mr. Elipitical is teaching me that running with him is not so bad. So maybe in this 30 day challenge, I'll not only create a good habit but learn to like something as well.

What would you do if you could do a 30 day challenge? These are not meant to be BIG commitments, just small ones that might make a difference. A friend of mine gave up drive thru fast food restaurants for 30 days. Another decided to take one minute before getting out of bed to center themselves for the day. What's stopping you?

It's Been A While and So Much Has Changed!

Whew. Life got too busy there. I think that we've slowed down a little but I feel like I'm always on defense waiting for the next move to come along.

Connor will be 6 months next week... that's right! 6 whole months this cute baby boy has been a part of this world and Joe and I are loving every minute of watching him discover it.

Recently, in Connor's adventures has been in the introduction of real food. That's right... real, pureed, eat it with a spoon food! And just like his Daddy... he LOVES to eat!

So far this is the score-
Connor 0 Carrots 1 - you would think carrots are like chocolate to him!
Connor 1 Squash 0 - spits them across the room
Connor 0 Sweet Potatoes 1
Connor 0 Sweet Corn 1
(are we seeing a theme here?! He is DEFINITELY a Dinise.)



On deck for this week, green beans. Joe is predicting that Connor will only like the same vegtables as Dad. And so far he's right. Which makes this veggie loving Mom sad.

I call this one Sweet Potato explosion!

Look out! Spoon in hand!

Really Mom?! While I'm eating!

In trying all these new foods with Connor I've been thinking what it must be like to never know flavors or textures different from the one thing you've been eating for 6 months. It makes me excited for him.

And it makes me think, do we as adults ever have opportunities to discover anew again? Do we ever have a blank slate with no influences, preconceived notions, or thoughts about something new we are going to try?

Unrelated, kind of, there was a fire in the condo complex down the street from our house this weekend all starting from a BBQ. 8 units are effected, 4 burned and the others with smoke and water damage (I think that water can be just as damaging as fire- too much time in the residence halls has taught me that.) And now these 8 displaced families are trying to figure out where to live, what to do, and how to make sense of life.

While life may not be new to them like it is to Connor, I've been trying to put myself in their shoes as well wondering how Joe and I would do if everything we owned burned. Luckily, we (yes, all 5 of us, Joe and I , Connor , Teter and Rocky) we all coming back from an attempted hike (long story) to the black smoke billowing out of our neighborhood. So every person I love in our house was in the car, safe and sound. (I did run through my head the list of things that could have been left on possibly starting a fire in our own home.) And in thinking about it, there are very few irreplaceable things in our lives- other than people and dogs.

Don't get me wrong, its not that our lives are not full or rich- its just that the value of "stuff" has changed for me. I appreciate what I have and worked hard to get it. But if it was all gone tomorrow and I still had Connor and Joe and the dogs, life would be good. So seeing the world through Connor's eyes and the eyes of tragedy have just made me look at the world differently.

I wonder if this is how our neighbors are feeling as well... I'm sure everyone is reacting differently. Please put these people in your thoughts and prayers this morning as they try to make sense of life and learn anew again. 

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Free Time??!

I found myself yesterday with a rare opportunity these days. I literally had about 20 minutes where I had nothing to do...literally- no articles to read, no Connor around, dogs were happy, no one needed to be fed, chores done, emails answered, and the phone was not ringing. And I learned something new about myself...

I don't know how to sit still anymore. 

Joe and I have this running joke about my Dad. My dad is always, and I mean ALWAYS, doing something, working on something. His brain never turns off. He's gotten better at sitting down and being still, for a moment, then he's back up again. So Joe and I put together a to do list when he comes to visit because we know he'll need something to do (and we appreciate the energy and help!)

But as I sat down yesterday and found my to do list completed or stalled for the moment, I could not sit still! ( I had a momentary laps of "am I becoming my father" moment- which would not be a bad thing in many ways.) I almost did not know what to do with myself. I realized that I had been running at breakneck speed- and don't know if I needed to.

As a society, we applaud productivity, the ability to get things down, having answers quickly, and moving forward with completing tasks. But when do we applaud rest, relaxation, and time for rejuvenation? Do we give ourselves and each other permission to stop our minds and our bodies from the endless things to do and just be? And if we don't have those moments of rejuvenation how are we suppose to accomplish all that is asked of us?

This transition back to work has called everything I know into question- including the pace I run at? If you know me well you know I HATE running. We don't have a relationship because I despise it so much. I would physically rather do just about anything for cardio than running- so why do I expect myself to run at a pace for work, school, and other parts of life that I would never physically do otherwise? (The funny thing is I have always preferred to dance- what would happen if I danced my way through life?!)

I offer this blog as an opportunity and moment for you to ask yourself these same questions. And to take a moment and to let yourself just stop, and be.