This has been a good week for our little family. The most exciting thing would have to be Caleb passing his commercial license exam! This basically means that he is done with all of his flight training. This is a huge deal for us because he has been working on this for the past four and half years and it has been a huge sacrifice of time and money for us. He has been studying non-stop for the past few weeks and he has been such a joy to live with as he has been stressed out. I was honestly wondering what he would do if he didn't pass, because there is no way I would have let him come home. Fortunately we got to have our celebration date night this Friday which was an opportunity for us both to de-stress. The best part was the play we were going to see was actually not a play, but a ballet! I was thrilled and Caleb didn't think it was so bad until he realized that there is no talking in ballets. He was pretty much done with it at that point, and I let him leave early to walk the 10 miles to get the car. The worst part about this is there is absolutely no way he will go with me to see The Nutcracker this Christmas, as he has sworn off ballets for the rest of his life. I am already strategizing to start Micaela in ballet, therefore he would be required to break his vow and attend her dance recitals.

I have been eating and growing at an alarming rate. I decided it was time to post another preggo picture, and soon realized how much I hate these pictures. Especially as I decided not to put on makeup or do my hair, so pardon the "just got out of bed look."



25 weeks in, 15 to go!

Labels: Just Me, The Fam

I am now officially one year older. Heading closer to 30 everyday. I remember turning 19 and thinking, yeah this isn't so fun...getting older is not so fun. However, I think birthdays are amazingly fun. Most of the time. You know there is that person who doesn't want anyone to know it is their birthday, doesn't want to get presents and what not. I find this more common as I get older..."birthdays are for kids" is a direct quote from a friend. I disagree. I think your birthday is the one time of year that you should be entitled to spend the entire day thinking of yourself and doing the things you enjoy. I also think splurging is necessary.
My birthdays tend to go one of two ways. Either they are absolutely insanely fun or they are absolutely insanely horrible. For example:

My 16th birthday was spent driving home from Vegas. So we were in the car the entire day. Also, I was convinced there would be a "special" birthday present waiting in the driveway. In fact, my mother and youngest sister had left to visit my grandma and I got a book from my parents. I'm sure I got something else besides a book, but I don't remember. I only remember that there was no car in the driveway.

My 17th birthday was spent in Great America with 5 of my girlfriends staying in a suit at a hotel. It was a blast. I mean how many 17-year-olds get to take their friends on an out-of-state trip for their birthday? My parents obviously felt guilty for not getting me a car.

My 18th birthday was one of the best. We spent 3 weeks in Africa traveling around the country. This was not exactly done for my birthday, but the trip was amazing and one of my best vacations ever. Also, my parents got me a small diamond necklace, which I had always wanted as a white diamond is my birthstone.

During my 19th birthday I had to study and take finals while my family traveled around Hawaii. Lame.

My 20th birthday was also a disappointment. My roommate tried to throw a surprise party, but I came home early and ruined it. Also two friends got in a fight, further ruining the party.

My 21st was the worst. It was about 3 weeks before I got married and Caleb and I were in a huge fight. We were considering calling off our wedding. I thought for sure we would make up on my birthday. We didn't and I spent my entire birthday planning how I would have to call everyone to cancel the wedding. Needless to say, we worked things out and still got married, but I still remember how painful that birthday was.

On my 23rd birthday I got in car accident and had to work all day. I also remember Micaela being sick that night and having to stay up with a puking baby.

My 25th was fantastic. I spent it eating sushi on the beach in Hawaii. Which is where I wish I was now...

Anyways, this trip down memory lane is to prove a point. My birthdays are either over the top or terribly disappointing. This year I wanted to have a "chill" birthday and just take the day to myself. Ok, so I really wanted to go on a vacation, but this was my 2nd choice. I took the day off work, slept in until 7:30, and went to brunch. Which by the way, is my new favorite meal. How perfect is breakfast food when you don't have to eat it early in the morning? I scheduled a massage and bought some clothes. Even though I have said I wouldn't waste money on any more maternity clothes I could not fathom an amazing day without a shopping trip. I had dinner with some great friends at The Cheesecake Factory and had the dutch apple cheesecake, which was divine. You may relate to the feeling of being so incredibly full, but completely unable to stop yourself from eating because it is just that good. That describes my experience with this cheesecake. I then finally got to watch Juno. I have been wanting to see this movie since it came out, but I never made it to the theatres. I knew it was coming out on video this week and I went to the video store the day it came out to make sure I would have a copy to watch this weekend. All week I have passed by it sitting on the coutner, and it has been begging me to watch it, but I have held my ground in deciding to save it for my birthday. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
In case anyone is wondering, Caleb delivered nicely. I got flowers and a card. The card is the most important thing for me and it has taken Caleb an awfully long time to realize that I want a personalized card for every occasion. He finally got it, and then we had Micaela and he had to learn that I also expect a card from her on every occasion, and he has to pick it out! He finally got that too this year. Micaela presented me with a card and sang a remixed version of Happy Birthday, which I think she thought meant it was her birthday. I was quick to remind her the flowers were for me! Also, Caleb bought us tickets to a play next week and arranged for us to have dinner before at my favorite restaurant that we can only eat at once a year because it's like $10 for a dinner roll. However, that dinner roll is dang good.
Overall, I think having a chill birthday is pretty good. Maybe falling in the middle isn't too bad. So happy birthday to me. I take great comfort in the fact that Caleb will always be older than I am. And he has some gray hairs and I do not. Burn.

Labels: Just Me

To celebrate the warmer weather we bought Micaela some new spring clothes. She wanted to model them, so I took pictures, and they are so cute I thought I would share.

When she tried on these new sandals she said "I love them!" Shortly followed by "I can't move my feet." Which may be because I forgot to cut the tags off.
An action shot fit for a catalog.
Caleb hates this picture because he thinks she looks too old.
Sick of smiling.
Don't you want to see the back too? Or more likely, something interesting was happening on the TV.
I hope this spring weather is here to stay!

One of the groups I run at my job is a social skills group for young children. All of the kids in my group have a mental health diagnosis, mostly ADHD, an anxiety disorder or something on the Autistic spectrum. If you have ever met a child with one of these diagnoses you may be able to understand the difficulties they have making friends and interacting with others in a socially appropriate way. The group can be a little chaotic, but they are very entertaining and definitely the best group I have ever had.
In my group we talk a lot about initiating play with other children. One of the skills we work on is giving compliments. We practice giving compliments to others and then expressing how it feels to give a compliment and how it feels to receive one. Most of the kids get slightly embarrassed, showing shy smiles and a flush of pride. Many of them simply say thank you.
When I started the group, my supervisor suggested one of the grad students work with me to complete her requirements for gaining group experience. I found the task slightly daunting and wanted to refuse, but the student was a friend of a good friend of mine and she seemed generally interested in learning about working with young children, so I accepted the challenge. As her internship is coming to end, she wrote me an amazing letter thanking me for working with her. She remarked that I had taught her more about groups and young children than anyone else, and said that her time in my group was her favorite time of the week. I was thrilled to have been given such a great compliment, but still haven't responded back to her.
As I was thinking of what to say, I realized that most women do not accept compliments well. Why is that? I believe there are a few different tactics that women use when complimented.
1. Flat out denial. Refusing to believe or accept. "You look good today." "I look horrible today!"
2. Minimizing. "You are really good at this." "No I just did good today " or "So and so is so much better than I am."
3. Feeling the responsibility to return the compliment immediately to re-focus the attention.
4. Using humor or joking. I do this one all the time. For example "You are really smart." "Oh I just say things that make me sound smart"
The more I think about this the more I believe that as women it is deemed somewhat undesirable to simply accept a compliment. It is like the scene in Mean Girls where they say "you are so pretty," and the main character responds "thank you," then they say "oh so you admit you're pretty?" Because of course she should have denied it. I think there is some social standard that as women we should be modest and accepting compliments is seen as prideful or, even worse, conceited. Somewhere from being a young child to becoming a woman we develop this attitude that we should never admit that we are good at anything. This goes completely against the new focus of promoting positive self-esteem in young women, which research has shown to be a telling factor in predicting resiliency. Excuse me while I stand on my soapbox, but I believe we will continue to see an alarming growth in things such as eating disorders, drug abuse, teen suicide, and risky sexual behavior as long as young women are not fostered in developing positive self esteem.
To do my part, I vow that after the next compliment I receive I will smile, say thank you, and revel in the fact that I have strengths that are recognized by others and that is OK.

Labels: Just Me, Rant