I met my husband when I was 19.  I was a freshman in college.  Of course at that time, I didn’t know he’d be my husband.  That was almost 12 years ago!  We continued to date throughout college, he graduated, got a “real” job, I graduated, got a “real” job, and then we moved in together.  Within a year we were engaged.  After a year and a half engagement, we were married.  A little over a year after that, our first child, Brinley, was born.  I’ll save you time from doing the math… I was engaged at 23, married at 24 and had my first baby at 25.  Sometimes I’d hear that I was so young or moving too fast, but I never let that bother me.

Now, nearly 12 years after meeting my husband, Scott, I am happily married, have two beautiful daughters and pretty much living the life I always imagined.  My older daughter is in Kindergarten this year.  She’s involved in a slew of activities outside of school.  I’ve met lots of other moms along my journey and I wonder how Brinley perceives us all.  Does she just think we’re all old?  Does she think we’re all the same age?  I know for a fact that she has friends who’s parents are almost 20 years older than I am.  She also has friends who’s parents are younger than I am, though not by much.  I’d agree that I’m probably one of the younger moms but that doesn’t seem to have any effect on my relationships with other moms I meet, younger or older.

I hear quite a bit that I’m so young or just getting started but other than some years, I have a lot in common with the moms that are 5, 10 and even 20 years older than me.  We all have kids the same age and that is the equalizer.  Our age… it’s nothing but a number.

Now it’s back to the grind.  And honestly, I’m not complaining about this lifestyle either.  Things do seem to operate with more ease when there is routine.  Especially with an almost five year old and a two year old running around the house.  Our daily scheules will be filled with playgroup, dance classes, gymnastics, soccer and a little thing called Kindergarten.

Brinley’s first day was last week and she had been counting down the days for almost a month.  She absolutely loves school and could not wait for the first day to arrive.  I knew she’d do fine in school and that she’d be happy and make friends.  My issue was with the bus.  It just felt so wrong to be sending this little person off on a big yellow bus with no car seat or seat belt driven by a man who I had never before met.  When the bus pulled up that first day I had a huge pit in my stomach and seriously felt like I was going to throw up.  But I stayed strong and didn’t let her see my fear.  When the bus stopped she marched right up the stairs, walked to a seat and sat down never once looking back to us.  As they pulled away I felt my throat get tight as my husband signed “Oh man”.  That may have been the hardest thing I’ve had to do to date.

Today is her third day of school and everything is going perfect.  Though it’s hard to pry out of her what she does all day, I know she’s enjoying it.  When she wakes up in the morning she wants to get dressed right away and has a very hard time waiting for the bus to come.  Since she’s in afternoon kindergarten, the bus doesn’t come until almost noon.  It’s going to be hard to distract her in the morning until she switches in January.

So that’s basically what’s been going on with us.  I’m going to try to get back on track with the blog as I know there are many who enjoy reading about our lives.   What’s new with you?  Any big changes for your family this year?

I’ve signed Brinley up for a few mini-sessions of gymnastics and dance but other than that our calendar is empty and it’s up to me to fill the days with fun, exciting activities.  Sure there will be play dates and visits with friends, but we need a little more spice than that in our lives.  Luckily we had some hot weather last week and the girls and I were able to hit up a local swimming hole with friends.  It took up a good chunk of our day.  Today we visited Davis Farmland with even more friends.  It’s a great little discovery farm with animals galore that the kids can feed, pet and brush.  We had a great time.

The crew with the fake milking cow

We’ve got quiet a few fun things on the calendar for the rest of the summer like our annual trip to StoryLand with our New York friends (Hi, Kel!) and some weekends out to my parents lake house but it’s the day to day monotony during the week that I need to work on filling.  I’m open to your ideas for fun things to do with the kiddos this summer.  I don’t mind spending a little bit to have a good time, but free and/or cheap events are best!

Oh and in January, I registered my little girl for Kindergarten.  Seriously, I feel like I just brought her home from the hospital and she’s going to be starting real school in September?  Yikes!  Sometimes I feel like her four and a half years of life have just passed me by.  My little baby has become a real little girl.  She’s reading!  She dresses herself every single day {sometimes much to my dismay} and we actually have real conversations.

And my baby?  Well, she turned two on Sunday.  She’s not a baby anymore!  She can do just about anything {or at least she’ll try to}.  Walking, talking, running, jumping, you name it – she does it.  Her language amazes me.  Full sentences is an understatement.  She speaks in paragraphs.  She knows what she wants and asks for it.  She idolizes her big sister and for the most part they get along really well.

My house is free of baby swings and bottles.  In their place are ballet slippers and soccer cleats.  Gone are the days of walks in the stroller and easily being able to entertain my kids.  Now I’m scheduling play dates and preparing for dance recitals.  My kids prefer playing with each other or their friends over playing with me.

It’s crazy how quickly time passes, how fast we change and how easily we overlook certain things.  Sometimes I wish I could relive the past 5 years of my life.  So much has happened and I want to remember it all all over again.  But as the days continue to go by I look forward to the future and to all of the great things that are yet to come.

Q: What do you call the people who live next door to a horse?

A: Neeeiiigh-bors

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Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Dogs.

Dogs, who?

Dog’s don’t hoo, owls hoo!

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Q: What’s a ghost’s favorite fruit?

A: Boo-berries

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Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Yah.

Yah, who?

Are you surprised?

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And when I say that these are some of her favorites, I mean she tells them over and over and over ad nauseum.  I have to laugh every single time or else I’ll hurt her feelings.  She thinks they’re hilarious every single time.  It reminds me of when I was a little girl and my grandfather would ask me, “Want to hear a dirty  joke?” and I’d say yes and he’d say “Two white horses fell in the mud.”  I’m pretty sure I had no idea why this was even funny back then but I laughed my head off every single time he said it.

Well this past weekend, I was about to use my last diaper and told Scott that I need to make a BJs run.  Since we didn’t have anything planned, we decided to go as a family {that means he was coming with us!}.  We also ventured to a new BJs.  We were already out shopping and figured we’d take a little adventure and check out a different location.  This store was brand spanking new AND it had a gas station which the one near us does not.

Anywho, we spent probably close to an hour in the store.  We had free samples of Annie’s Organic Gummy Fruit Snacks, bakery cup cakes, and Russell Stover’s Sugar Free Chocolates.  The girls played “in the cart, out of the cart” and sat in one of those humongous camping chairs {have you ever seen one?}.  A good time was had by all.

We eventually made our way to the check-out at which point Scott had to run to the little boys room.  I put everything up on the conveyor and watched the cashier scan everything through.  Scott walked back from the bathroom just as the cashier announced the total… $228.34.  He looked at me, I looked at him and then I handed the cashier my card.  I can’t remember the last time I spent more than $150 at BJs.  So, what on earth could have happened this time?  I brought my husband!

Keep in mind, before we went into the store, Scott said to me, “We only need diapers, right?”  I said yes, and probably some tissues and water.  So what did he add to the cart?  A dry-fit running shirt for $14.99, a 12 pack of bakery muffins for $6.95, a 3 pack of boxer shorts for $22, a 16 pack of Gillette Fusion razor blades for $42.99, and two packages of batteries for $8.99 each, for a grand total of $104.91.

Next time I go to BJs I’m leaving my husband at home!

So, three weeks ago I started going to the gym again.  I started eating better and being more aware of what I put in my mouth.  I started being more purposeful, if you will, around the house – making the bed, bringing the laundry down, tidying rooms up when not in use.  I’m planning meals for the week and trying to avoid letting folded clothes sit in laundry baskets for more than a day.  It might not sound like much, but it’s making a difference in our lives.

In the past three weeks, I’ve lost 8 pounds.  This is a big deal for me.  It’s not that I consider myself overweight or anything.  It’s just that I know that I can look better and feel better.  Not for anyone else, but for myself.  I want my children to see me as an active and fit parent.  Now, three nights each week, I go to the gym and they know that mommy is going to exercise.  On the weekends I use our treadmill at home. After dinner I get ready to leave, my husband cleans up the dishes and then gets the girls ready for bed.  Not only is this a chance for me to work out, but it’s a chance for me to have alone time.  It might sound crazy that I actually enjoy going to the gym, but I do.  It’s the only time that I get to drive in my car completely alone listening to whatever music I choose as loudly as I want.  And when I get there I don’t have to unbuckle car seats or lug anyone or anything in with me.  It’s amazing.  And while I’m there working out, I can read my Kindle or watch TV or stream Netflix on my iPhone.  It’s really quite relaxing.

When I get home, the kitchen is {usually} cleaned up, the girls are in bed, and my husband is waiting for me.  He’s very proud of what I’m doing and that makes it even more rewarding for me.

I don’t believe in dieting.  I’m not saying that it doesn’t work for some people, but for me, it has to be a lifestyle change.  I just have to eat less and move more.  And that is what I’m doing.  The scale doesn’t lie.  Eight pounds of me are gone and I hope they never come back!

Scott and I latched on to it pretty quickly.  We loved the ease of it and the ability to brew just a single cup of coffee whenever we wanted in the “flavor” of our choice.  I had always been a French Vanilla lover while he preferred Hazelnut (gag!).  But with the traditional coffee maker we always just brewed regular coffee and then sometimes added a flavored creamer. The Keurig changed all that.  It pretty much changed our lifestyle in terms of home coffee brewing.  We used to prepare our coffee maker the night before by measuring the coffee and water and setting the programmable timer to have it brewing as we were waking up.  Now we simply choose our preferred blend, pop in the KCup, and within 60 seconds, we have a fresh cup of coffee.  Now that is genius!

You can imagine our heartache when this morning Scott went to brew his morning commute tumbler of coffee and the Keurig did not work.  It was as if a part of us had died.  We both just looked at each other not knowing what to do.  Then we fumbled with the machine to try to get it going.  We refilled the water reservoir, changed the KCup, unplugged and replugged in the machine, powered it on and off… nothing worked!  We felt truly defeated.  With no other coffee option in the house, Scott left empty handed.

After being out for the morning, I came home determined to get the Keurig working again.  I searched Google for help and consulted the owner’s manual, but nothing has worked.  I called Keurig and they really were not much help either.  I was told that the machine is out of warranty and that I really don’t have any options.  Someone is supposed to call me back and I was told that they may offer me a discount on a new brewer but seeing as it’s an “older” machine, it may just be done.  So is that it?  Three years out of the coffee maker and time to buy a new one?  I was hoping that we’d get more life out of it.

Now I sit here, unable to have my afternoon coffee fix, wondering what to do.  Should we buy a new Keurig or go back to the old days of brewing coffee in our traditional coffee maker.  We’ll likely go back to the old coffee pot for the time being as a new Keurig just isn’t in the budget right now.  It’s definitely not going to be easy!  I might cry.

However, now that Halloween is drawing near, we are faced with a problem.  How do we simultaneously take our kids out trick-or-treating AND be at home to hand out candy to other kids?  The answer might seem simple to you:  Have one parents stay home and hand out candy and have the other one take the kids out, right?  Well, that would solve it except for the fact that Scott and I both want to be able to see the kids go out trick-or-treating for the first time in our new neighborhood (and the fact that it might be hard for just one of us to take both of them).

You might also think that we should just both go and take them out.  But who will be here to give the candy out?  Since it’s our first Halloween in the new house, I think it’s important to have someone here to hand out the candy so that we can make our presence known.  I want to see the kids who are around and maybe meet some new people as they come through.  Maybe that is silly, I don’t really know.  This is really the first time that we have a house to give candy out at.  Anyone have an answer for me on how to make it work?  Right now the only answer we can come up with is taking turns being out with the girls and staying home to give candy.  Life can be so difficult sometimes!

You see, my bestest best friend for the past four years has been my daughter, Brinley.  But now that she is four and growing up before my eyes, she has become quite an independent little girl.  She’s in school now and has new friends her own age.  It’s not that I’m not happy about her having friends because I am.  I love that she’s social and goes on play dates and has friends over to play.  It’s just hard to her hear say to me, “Mom, you go upstairs and leave us alone to play.”  It’s like she doesn’t need me there anymore to play with dolls or color or play school.  My role has shifted from best friend and playmate to simply Mom.  It’s a role I’ll always be more than happy to take on, but I’ll miss being the one she choose for playing games and dress up with.  Now it’s, “Can so and so come over to play” instead of “Mom, let’s play dolls.”

I know this is not the last time that my heart will ache just a little bit over my daughter.  I’m sure I’ll have many, many more experiences just like this one or even worse.  Hopefully over time they’ll be easier to swallow because right now I’m sitting upstairs typing this while I listen to my daughter downstairs playing with her friend.  Don’t get me wrong, it brings me great joy to hear their happiness and giggles, but I’m a little bit sad that I can’t be a part of it.