Just getting started

When 2011 rolled around, I made some "quiet" resolutions. I did not want to announce them on my blog or facebook in fear of failure or lack of motivation. After listening to Seth Godin's new audio book "Poke the Box", I have decided to throw that fear in the closet, shut the door and forget it's there. So here I am letting a few people in on my few resolutions and accomplishments so far in twenty-eleven:

#1 Read More - I got caught in a rut of just reading magazines and facebook posts. I was getting no true value out it so I decided I would read more starting with blogs and moving to books. I found a RSS feed software called NewsFire to help me organize the blogs I want to follow. I have meticulous picked some blogs that I have great interested and since have "unsubscribe" to those who don't really excite me. I follow a variety of people and topics - leadership, inspiration, Seth Godin, mommy blogs about real world parenting, and friends as well. I have found such great material following this glimpses of other people worlds. Such as: TED conferences, Seth's new book, other books for my "to-read" list. I look forward to reading them and it's great to have a tool that puts them in one place and doesn't junk up my inbox.

# 2 Make the time to exercise - As every mom knows if hard to find the time to do it all especially exercise. You work all day at your job then come home and spend the remaining daylight hours with your family. And when the kids are tucked into bed, you have a couple hours to catch on the stuff that you put off. I decided to take those hours and devote one to exercise. By no means am I hard core. I have no desire to lose an obscene amount of weight - I just want to feel good & be healthy. I just needed to start somewhere. So I reclaimed the basement as my workout area. I use my laptop to play my workout DVD's. I started with some cheesy aerobic stuff then my brother in law gave me the P90X series. I've been doing that since January. Again, I'm not total devote to the actual workout. Six days straight sometimes just doesn't work out for me. But the series gets me motivated, it's hard, it has variety and I'm still doing.

#3 Get a handle on dinners - This one took me awhile to get my hands around. I guess since I'm so organized at work, I tried not to be that at home - weird I know. Well, it clearly wasn't working. James and I were both frustrated with the lack of meal prep or fore thought. We never had the right ingredients for anything and alot of our meal ended up being - grilled chicken, veggie, rice. That gets old after awhile. Therefore, I began to organize this particular situation. I started a binder with pre-printed grocery list (all you have to do is circle the item on the list - I have a template if you need one). On the grocery list it has a meal section to write in what you plan to have on what day - fabulous! The binder also house our tax receipts, any other important need-to-keep receipts and a stash of birthday cards- a little one stop shop if you will.

After I created the binder, I went through this huge recipe binder that we have been keeping for years. I separated the recipes in 3 categories - favorites, want to try, and toss. Now my recipe book has all of my favorite recipes. I took the "want to try" pile and placed it in my day-to-day binder. This way when I sit down on the weekend to plan the week and grocery shopping, I have a stack of recipes to choose from. And my methodology is if we cook it and it sucks then we throw the recipe out. But if we cook it and it's great it goes in the main recipe book in the back. I do the week's grocery shopping on Friday night or Saturday therefore we have everything we need for the week (no small trips to the store). And James knows what's on the menu for that night in case I'm not home in time to start prepping the meal. We are on week 4 of this and it's working out beautifully. We have had some awesome, stress-free meals. I'm so glad I used my strength of organization to get this one aspect of life in order. Crazy that it took so long to do.

So there I am - exposed. The best part about these resolutions/goals is that I am still motivated to keep them going. I like the planning and organizing I have done so far. It works for me. I still may not have an amazing Cindy Crawford body but dinner will be excellent. Obviously, I'm not stopping at these three items. There will be more to come.

Nicknames

We have all had a nickname as some point in our lives. Some of us still answer to those nicknames. Some of those nicknames were probably cruel and got dropped a long time ago. As parents when your contemplating a name for your child, you quickly run through any potential nicknames that could conjured up. A lot of names get discharged this way. It's funny how nicknames will drive that decision.

When we named McKenna we were in the 6th hour of having her in the world before we decided on a name. With so many beautiful girl names, we were undecided until we held her and said the names to her. McKenna just fit her beautiful round face. With Jonah not quite 2 years old yet, it was a difficult name to pronounce perfectly. Therefore it came out "Kimma". And so she was call "Kimma" from that point on. And then it diverged to "Kimme". Then I started to get creative and cutesy - "Kimma Pop", "Kimmie Poo". And I really don't know how I started "Pooka" but that has played into one of her nicknames as well.

Today, I asked McKenna what her name was. (Now, this little 21 month old has a crazy vocabulary and is already forming sentences.) She answered me, "Kimma Pop" with a big smile. Her sweet little nickname has caught on to her as well. I guess we see how far and long the nickname(s) go with her in life. She'll most likely have some new ones designated to her by her "cool friends" when she gets older. Then "Kimma Pop" will just be my little secret memory.

So you may be asking, "What's Jonah's nickname?" Well, it's "J-Bone" and you'll have to wait for James to tell that story.

My little "Kimma Pop"

Let's take another one. . .

This picture makes me giggle. My little ones thought it was funnier to close their eyes for a picture instead of opening them. And yes, they were right - it is funnier.

Trip to Mexico

A couple weeks ago I had the honor to travel to Cancun with a great group of friends. We all have kids so there were many times we chattered away about our wonderful mom and kid moments. The majority of the trip was relaxing at the resort and trying to figure out which frozen concoctions we should try next. Cheers to girl's trip!

iPad or not?

This morning James asked me if I'd like to order an iPad or take the cash. The iPad was suppose to be a Valentine's Day but with the arrival of the newest version, James decided to wait. My response after being asked this question was, "I'd rather take the cash to pay off our $600 water bill". How practical am I?

And yes, our water bill is $600 after we ran the water a full week to fill up our pool. It had to be done. We replaced the pool liner this winter and the water had to be put back. We knew it would be expensive and we were not disappointed.

As much as I would like to have the latest, coolest newest gadget from Apple - do I really need another distracted from the world that moves around me? I already have an iPhone (which has a cracked screen from hitting the pavement). I have an Apple laptop which my company let's me use. I have an Apple Nano stashed away somewhere as well. I really don't NEED another piece of technology. I love Apple products and when I can upgrade my iPhone to a newer version, I will.

Technology is a serious distraction - distracts from work, driving, our family's.  We as a society cannot sit in a waiting room without our noses to our phones. There is never a dull moment anymore with our phones, computers,Wii's and whatever. I miss those dull moments. Let me fill those dull moments with life -  playing with the kids, taking a walk, dancing in the living room, laughing, talking to one another (in person not texting).

I'm not upset that I decided to be practical this morning. I'll have more fun splashing in the pool this summer with family & friends then I ever will trying to download apps on my iPad.

"I need to wash my hands."

James put Jonah to bed on Monday night and decided to lay in bed and read his newest book. I had decided to exercise so I headed to the basement for a good hour workout. While James was reading he heard Jonah go into the bathroom then go back to his room. Nothing out of the ordinary until Jonah comes into our bedroom and said he needed to clean his hands. As James turned his attention to Jonah, he noticed that his hands were covered in lotion. And his hands were not the only thing slathered in lotion - he had rubbed it into his hair as well.

Apparently when Jonah had wandered into the bathroom, he had taken the Cetaphil pump bottle of lotion off the counter and took it into his bed. James washed his hands and took him back to bed. He told Jonah that he would have to wash his hair in the morning.

When I was finally ready for bed, I walked into Jonah & McKenna's rooms to make sure they were covered and give them a final kiss. Both were sound asleep. As I walked into my bedroom, James asked me if I had tuck Jonah in. "Of course", I replied. Then he asked if I have noticed his hair. I immediately went back to Jonah's room and saw the clumps of matted hair and I started giggling. I must have giggled for about 5 minutes. I actually giggled so hard that I woke Jonah up and he told me, "Mommy, it's sleepy time".

The next morning I asked Jonah about the lotion. He said, "I was trying to put it on my cheeks but it got in my hair and on my bed. Mommy, we need to wash blankie because it's all over him too. And Daddy says I need to take a shower."

This is definitely a story that will make me smile whenever I recall it. If only I could keep the kids this little when they are so innocent and cute. Unfortunately, I did not take a picture but I did capture in my mind!