Joseph

My baby boy is 1 year old today.  My BABY.  My last baby.  He is the youngest of my three children and with each one I say (as does every parent) "I can't believe how fast this year went."  But I must say, THIS past year has gone so much faster than the first years with the other two.  I don't know if that's because we are so much busier now, so everything just goes faster.  Or maybe it's because I know this is my last so I am trying to cherish everything that much more.  Either way, it is flying and I can't imagine how much faster it would be going if I were still working full time.  (If that is even possible.)

The story of Joseph is so different from the other two.  It took us no time to get pregnant with him.  (Almost a year with the others.)  My water broke almost a week before my due date.  (I was induced because I was past my due date with the others.)  My labor was different, my delivery experience was different, my post-delivery and maternity leave were different.  In almost every way possible, it has all been different.  We thought for sure Joe would crawl earlier than the others, talk earlier, walk earlier - everything.  Instead it has been quite the opposite.  He surprises us every day and in almost every way possible.

Joseph started as our laid back, go with the flow baby.  He smiled constantly, nothing bothered him, anybody could hold him.  Everybody asked "Does he ever stop smiling?"  And he is still our happy guy and not much seems to faze him, BUT... that determination and temper we've seen in our older two plenty of times is starting to come out!  It is so much fun and interesting to see the mix of relaxed yet stubborn...  sweet yet tough... I can easily come up with 3 main words to describe my older 2 kids, but I don't think I can do it with Joseph.  He never ceases to surprise me and I guess that shouldn't surprise me since it started long before he was born!

So happy birthday to my sweet baby boy.  Even though he was my biggest baby at birth and is my biggest at one year and is now moving into toddler-hood, he still is and always will be my baby.  My lovey.  My monkey, my frogger, my little turkey.  Such a sweet, adventurous and daring little guy.  This past year has given me just a glimpse of what is yet to come, but being able to spend this past year with him at home, spending each and every day with him, has made me appreciate everything so much more and look forward for what is yet to come.

And Another Thing...

I'm a busy person.  I always have been and I think I probably always will be.  When (if) I get a chance to just sit and relax I panic a little because I think there is something I should be doing or I'm forgetting something or missing something.  On top of all the stuff I do for myself/my family/my house/etc. there is the stuff my extended family has going on.  I come from a large family and they will find any excuse to get together and have a party.  So of course there is some sense of obligation to attend these events, but mostly I want to attend these events because my family is FUN.  Never a dull moment with that crew!  After I got married we had a lot of "discussions" about this constant running and busy-ness because it is not.at.all what my husband was used to and not even close to what he grew up with.  I believe now, after almost 11 years, he has finally come to terms with it all, or at least given up and just noted I am the way I am and this is what life with me is like.

After I quit working full time, almost a year ago, we thought this would change.  Of course we have 3 kids and life itself is busy, but we figured it would be a "different busy."  Not the high-stress, work-related busy, but more the "you take him to practice and I'll take her to lessons" kind of busy, which quite honestly I am excited about.  And that kind of busy does exist in our house now, but it is not alone!  Of course there are all the normal things to be done around the house and keeping up with 3 kids at 3 very different stages of their lives.  Plus B has been working more hours and traveling more.  And oh yeah, don't forget that part time job I've been doing, spending a couple of hours each evening working on the computer from our couch. 

SO... what have I decided to do now?  That's right!  Add one more thing!!  Last night I officially signed up to become a Thirty-One Gifts Independent Consultant.  I have toyed with the idea of doing something like this several times over the past few years, but I have finally reached a point where it seems like a good fit.  The extra cash will definitely help (and sometimes be necessary!)  At this point I am excited about the possibilities: I will get out of the house a few hours each week to spend time with other adults, plus we will have some "fun money" to do more things with the kids or finally remodel our master bathroom, since it's been on the top of our To Do list for so long I've stopped counting the months (years?).

So here I am, busier than I was one year ago, but I still have this sense of calm.  Even though I am adding one more thing to our lives, I don't feel burdened or panicked or stressed.  Hopefully this feeling will continue, and will also be felt by everybody else in our house.  Time will tell!

What Am I Thinking?

There are so many things I could have titled this post - "Who Has Time For This?" or "Are You Trying To Kill Yourself?" or "First and Last" (as in my first ever post and last ever post).  The truth is, I barely feel like I have time to use the bathroom during the day, so what on earth makes me think I have any sort of time to BLOG???  But the bigger truth is that I have wanted to do this for a really, REALLY long time and I have reached a point where I think I will just find the time, somehow, somewhere.  I established this blog in November, and it sat here with a title only.  Then as I rang in the new year I swore I would give myself time to blog.  And here we are, almost March, and I'm writing my first post.  Better late than never, right?  Or something like that...

Several things have inspired me to start blogging.  First and foremost, it is for ME!!!  I have a Facebook account, but that is mostly about keeping up with everybody else.  I have another website where I post cute pictures and stories and antecdotes about my children, but that clearly is for everybody else because if any significant time passes with no new pictures I get harrassed from several family members.  I needed somewhere to express myself and get out what is on my mind.  And as it stands now, this really, truly is just for me because nobody knows I have set this up except me.  So maybe it will serve as my little online diary for a while...  probably not long.  But I guess we will see how it goes!  Another reason I decided to finally break down and do something is that I am inspired, if you will, by several blogs I follow on a regular basis and I wanted to be able to join in the party.  Once I get the hang of how all this works I will attempt to list them under "blogs I follow" but be patient because it might be a while.  You'd never know I was once a computer science major (after I was an accounting major, but before I was a business major).  It may also take a while to spruce things up around here and make this look like a legitimate blog but I'll do what I can!

So maybe this will be my place to vent each day (or week... we'll see how the time thing goes), maybe it will be some sort of creative outlet, maybe it will lead to bigger and better things (in what arena I have no clue).  But I'M HERE and I'm finally doing this and for that I am a little bit proud of myself.