Thrity Day Dropout

I stink! I spend so much time with Liam that I never get to this. I think I'd have better luck if I was working and sat at the computer a little more.
We had our yard sale Saturday and played on Sunday. Monday was VJ Day here in Rhode Island, also known as Victory Over Japan Day. Yes, we celebrate dropping a bomb to get a three day weekend in August. We took Liam down to Mystic. Mystic has always been our little place to get away for a day. While Liam napped, Mike adn I stopped to get a coffee and sat in the cemetary, watched the water, and learned about one of the founding families in Mystic.

We had to get Liam a Del's Lemonade.

I am down to my last two weeks of vacation. I am so lucky to spend my summer with Liam. We've had a ball. I've started trying to get materials together. I know what I'm doing for nine, ten, and eleven. Eighth grade will be short stories for the first few weeks. I am getting nervous about adjusting back to being a wokring mom. A part of me is looking forward to seeing my stduents and getting back in the swing of things. There's always the nervousness about getting back to not having all the time in the day top get things done. I enjoy taking care of the house so when Mike comes home we have family time. Liam will have to adjust his sleep schedule back. We've been sleeping an hour later in the morning, which sets him an hour later for the rest of the day. He'll go back to the next room in daycare.
For the next two weeks, I get to do as much as I can with him. We can go to the zoo, the library, or just fingerpaint in the backyard. We can read books and go for walks. How lucky we are.

Aug 4-5

I am getting bad at this. I have always been of the belief that Liam is only going to be little once. Fun with him always comes first. And fun we had. Blueberry picking in the morning.


He was a natural. In the afternoon, Liam had his 18 month appointment. He is right where he should be. That evening, Mike and I did our annual recreation of our first date. Six years flies by. Anyway, on with the challenge:
August 4 – Guilty Pleasure
This summer, my guilty pleasure has been badminton. Mike and I play it almost every night and are almost getting good at. What's not to love? It's enough of a workout to make me kinda sweat. The birdie thing is called a "shuttlecock" and that sounds dirty. Liam plays in the yard or grabs his racket and tries to join us.


There are certain things that just seem to be a part of who Mike and I are.
Badmintion is now one of those things.
To remember our summer of badmiton, Mike got me the Pandora badminton bead.

August 5 – I really should get rid of…
Do be honest, there isn't a lot I should get rid of. I go through the house several times a year and purge anything we haven't used in awhile. The flood last year forced me to get rid of old lessons, books, and other things I probably should've gone through but never did. I've been saving Liam's baby stuff as he outgrows things. What I haven't passed on to pregnant friends, I'm going to sell at my first attempt at a yard sale tomorrow. Hopefully, it goes well.

August 3

August 3 – What do you love most about yourself
Growing older made me much more comfortable in my body. Months ago, I wrote in my journal an analogy about growing into my own using my hair. I keep saying I need to type it out. Otherwise try to make it into something is isn't. When I entered my thirties, I let my hair be what it was meant to be. It is more than half grey. I do dye it, but I no longer spent hours and a small fortune putting blond highlights in it. I no longer try to fry it into straight submission. Here is a picture of my sister and I on her thirtieth birthday. That hair took forever, lots of product, and a flatiron to achieve.

My hair has always been a great feature. Much like the rest of me, when I stopped trying to make it something it wasn't, it flourished. It is healthier than it's even been. It is easier than it's even been and found its own way of doing things.
Here's my hair over the winter.

Not glamorous. Simple. Content. Me.

One of my favorite things about me is my hair. It is as telling as a journal. I just looked to see if I had any of my big hair middle school pictures of half buzzed pictures from high school. Luckily for everyone, I don't.

Aug 1-2

August 1 – Your 3 favorite blogs
August 2 – Which lesson did you learn the hard way?

I lasted a week on the challenge. Life can get in the way sometimes. I am taking advantage of a sleeping Booba to catch up.
Favorite Blogs:
Aug 1
I love reading Bri and Kim's blogs. Bri's son is only a little older than Liam so I like getting a sneak peak of what is to come with my little guy. Kim is just amazing and I amthankful that being with Mike led me to know her. I love watching her and her family's adventures and seeing the kids grow up. Beyond that, I have a bunch that I follow. There are a few cooking ones that I get great ideass from to try.

Aug 2 Which lesson did you learn the hard way?
Lots. Like everyone else in this world, I had to struggle at times. It made me a better person in the end. I learned that anything worth having is worth fighting for. I worked my butt off when I decided to go back to school. It was worth every bit of hard work. I've learned how be in an adult relationship. I've learned how to be a mother. I don't really think a lesson sticks unless you learn it the hard way.

July 31

July 31 – Last thing you took a picture of

Ok, yesterday's entry was diffcult because we hadn't been up too long when I wrote. This morning, Liam set up his squeaky ball under his Elmo rocker so that when he rocked, the ball squeaker. He is hilarious! He is also super smart. Yesterday's fight of the nap turned "Operation Toddler Needs to Sleep" into "Operation Keep the Toddler Up Until at Least Seven." Liam finally crashed at 7:30, which gave Mike and I real date time. We played badminton and had a fire in the backyard. Badminton has become our favorite pasttime. Heidi and Jim stopped over for a little bit towards the end of the night. We went in about 11, showered the bug dope and fire off of us, watched a bit of SNL, and went to bed.

The last pictures I took was at Sunflowers for Wishes. Liam has been a little tease when it comes to pictures. He never sits still for them for me. His chair pictures are so difficult to get. He does, however, photobomb strangler. He jumps in everyone else's pictures. Oh, he makes me laugh.

July 29

Ok, I missed yesterday. I spent the day in PD. I missed Liam so much that we played all afternoon and evening. I didn't come on here at all. I worked on my six word biography in class but couldn't come up with anything worthy. So on to the next day.
July 29 – Goal to complete before Sept 1
I try not to make goals. I feel like the second I make a goal, I set myself up to fail. I've had lots of goals this summer: ride my bike every day, bump uglies with Mike more instead of crashing after Liam finally goes to sleep (dammit daylight savings time!), stay in better contact with friends.
In my goal to get healthier and try to get my thyroid under control, I made the decision to go gluten free. It's been three weeks. The scale hasn't moved but I feel better. I feel that my stomach doesn't look as bloated. I don't feel the need to nap with Liam every day. I'm finally regular again (I know, TMI). Gluten free wasn't really a goal but a decision I made. Hopefully, this will help my thyroid level off a bit since I have been struggling with it since before Liam was born. Liam knocked it for a loop.
Mike has been a great help with my decision. We've eaten rice pasts twice. I talked sense to me when I wanted so badly to "just order a pizza" when we drove six hours from Maine and unpacked all the camping gear. I even surprised me with Woodchuck cider so I could drink near beer while camping.
I'm on my way to reaching this goal of surviving the transition to gluten free. I guess I did have a goal disguised as a decision.

July 27

Thirty Day Challenge: Day Three
July 27 – What part of your life is moving too fast… too slow?
I don't think there is a single part of my life that is moving too slow. Liam is growing at such a fast rate. Mike and I just celebrated out third wedding anniversary. Next Thursday is our annual "recreate the first date" extravaganza. Summer is flying by. I have a month of summer vacation left. I have truly loved being home with Liam. We have made a point of having adventures every day. We are having a great time. I don't know if we could survive being cooped up in the house all the time if I stayed home forever, but having the summers off is a gift. I love the little man that Liam is becoming. I love seeing my marriage become stronger than ever as we work together to create this life for ourselves.
I'd have to say that every part of my life is moving too fast. We just have to savor what will quickly become "back when Liam was little" days.

July 26

July 26 – How do your answer the question “What do you do?”

My job description is pretty straightforward. I am a teacher. This year, I will teach eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade English at an alternative high school.
My students are challenging in many way but very rewarding. On my way out of graduation this June, a former student jumped in front of my car so I would stop. I pulled over, got out, and received a giant hug. He thanked me for believing in him and let me know he'd received a scholarship to study architecture in Boston. We both teared up. That is priceless and worth every evening I spend grading papers and making graphic organizers.

Thirty Day Challenge

I will admit that I am totally taking this from another blog. I was just thinking to myself that this blog is a series of pictures of Liam and updates about what we do. Not that I don't think that is entertaining since, in my opinion, Liam is the coolest little dude in the whole world. However, it would be nice to get something else up here every so often. So here it is, without fancy graphics, my "permanently borrowed" Thirty Day Challenge.

Themes
July 25 – Best/Worst blogging experience
July 26 – How do your answer the question “What do you do?”
July 27 – What part of your life is moving too fast… too slow?
July 28 – Your 6 word biography
July 29 – Goal to complete before Sept 1
July 30 – Today was hilarious because…
July 31 – Last thing you took a picture of
August 1 – Your 3 favorite blogs
August 2 – Which lesson did you learn the hard way?
August 3 – What do you love most about yourself?
August 4 – Guilty Pleasure
August 5 – I really should get rid of…
August 6 – Favorite photo of yourself
August 7 – Thoughts on body image
August 8 – What’s your addiction?
August 9 – Cash, Debit, or Credit? What’s your financial status?
August 10 – Funny Travel Story
August 11 – Today I am wearing…
Aagust 12 – Worst job I ever had
August 13 – Favorite spot for date night in your town
August 14 – Random fact about yourself
August 15 – Which article have you read recently that inspired you?
August 16 – Which small act of kindness was bestowed on you that you will never forget?
August 17 – Most embarrassing moment
August 18 – What can you not live without?
August 19 – I am the way I am because ______ happened.
August 20 – If you had a friend that spoke to you the same way you speak to yourself, how long would you remain friends?
August 21 – Toughest time in my life
August 22 – Easiest time in my life
August 23 – This is what I am changing TODAY to make my life better.

Day One:
July 25 – Best/Worst blogging experience
I've kept journals since seventh grade. Keeping journals reminds me of all the people I used to be. I look back on pages and pages about boys I don't remember, my countdown to seeing New Kids on the Block, my eating disorder, my dad's heart attack when I was in ninth grade, constant moving and chaos in high school. I wonder not only how did I not choke on my own lameness but how did I overcome my childhood? While I am not the girl who lusts after Joey McIntyre, I am also not the girl who sits back and settles for whatever comes her way. I've created this amazing life for myself. I pride myself on having a stable life for myself, Mike, and Liam. My six crowns are (literally) battle scars. These journals remind me of how hard I worked to get where I am. They remind me of my successes and mistakes. They remind me of what I will recreate for my son's childhood and what I will do differently.

What does this have to do with my blog? I started a journal three days after I got my positive pregnancy test. I was excited and scared and dreamed of passing this beautiful bound book to my little one someday. I wrote about being so scared before the first ultrasound, battles with my mother over possible names, debated over whether to find out the gender of Baby Day. I gushed about Mike painting the room and choosing the theme of the room. I wrote about mine and Mike's dates and trying to get in as much us time as we could before Baby Day arrived. that journal was the most imposrtant one to date.

March of 2010 was undoubtedly the hardest month of my life. I was struggling with breastfeeding issues and colic. I was tired and trying to fake having it all together as a new mom. On March 5, we flew Liam down to meet my mom. I knew it would be the first and last time she'd ever meet Liam. When we arrived, she thought Liam was my little sister. It was an emotional trip. I left knowing it was the last time I'd ever see her and wanted to go while she was still well enough to somewhat know who we all were. A week after getting home, we received a call asking us to come up to do a similar trip for Mike's Nana. We went from Orlando, Florida, to Bangor, Main, in the span of two weeks. We were back up there two weeks later for Mike's Nana's funeral. Mike's parents decided to be nice and offered to watch Liam so we could go out for the first time since having him. While we were out, my sister sent a text suggesting we have Jim check on the house since there had been a lot of rain and reports of flooding. Mike sent the text. About fifteen minutes later, the phone rang. It was Jim. There was no way he was calling to let us know everything was fine. We were four hours away, with a two month old, and we had water up to the second step in our basement. We raced home, varying our route as we received text updates of closed highways. By the time we got home, the water was deeper than my rain boots. We scrambled to pick up the things we could. Kristy had driven down earlier and saved Mike's plane, my wedding dress, and left us a sump pump since they were worth more than gold in the area. It took five days to get the water under control. We spent that time in a hotel. We lost valuable things such as a laptop, Playstation, and furniture. We lost irreplaceable things such as six years of lesson plans, the last Christmas card my grandmother sent me, pictures, and my pregnancy journal.

After that, I had no interest in journal writing. Like a scorned lover, I swore I would never want to risk that loss again. In June, my mom took the turn for the worst that we had been waiting for. I grappled with making sense of it and decided to start the blog. I didn't make it public and kept it to myself. After my mom died, I sent some people the link. I also made the link available via a parenting board I frequent. I still haven't told a lot of people about this blog. I fear things being taken out of context and having to worry about what I write. No one at work knows about it for similar reasons. I (usually) enjoy my job and on the days I don't would never write anything that I wouldn't want my superintendent to see but it is just not something I ever want to worry about.

Through my blog, I know people I otherwise would never have met. While it sounds lame and cheesy to talk about Internet friends fondly, I do look to them for advice about Liam and other friendliness. Knowing people read it keeps it positive. No one wants to tune in to hear someone complain. While I don't have much to complain about these days, having a public journal keeps from griping about family squabbles and other such things that pass. I enjoy being able to add to it from anywhere. There is no wishing I had my journal with me. Having the iPhone makes that much easier. I enjoy being able to add pictures. Blogging has introduced me to people I've never met but still care about. I do plan to have this printed and bound each year so I still have my paper journals.

Wow that was a lot of information to answer a very simple question.