Happy New Year's Eve: Last 2013 Post

Happy New Year's Eve. Here is a picture of the Space Needle in Seattle, WA.  I tried to find a "free to use and share" picture of the Tower of the America's in San Antonio on NYE, but none were available. This is the next best thing, I think. Thank you to flickr user Michael Holden.

The holidays are always extra exhausting for me because we travel just about every Christmas. We spent a wonderful week in Lubbock, TX surrounded by family and friends, returning yesterday. I knew I wouldn’t feel like venturing out to the grocery store to buy a single thing. Instead, I placed an online order for groceries to be delivered to my house today. Lazy? Maybe. But not having to fight crowds is a plus in my book.

However… the only thing I frickin’ forgot were black-eyed peas. How can you ring in a new year without these crazy little beans? (Do you really think they bring you good luck?) All I know is that I don’t want to jinx it, so I better get some. Oh, and we don’t have champagne to toast with at midnight. So, I guess a trip to the store is in order, but at least I won’t be there but for very long.

Part of tonight's "big" festivities.

We also don't have party plans for the evening. I'd throw a party to see friends, but let's face it… that kind of stress coming home from a trip would likely kill me. I think we're probably going to have an intimate evening, filled with watching the TV countdowns and making homemade peanut butter cookies. Yes, we're officially old and have a kid. Yay, mid-30s. 

As for “Resolutions” for 2014 – I haven’t thought too much about this. Every year I resolve to do seemingly reasonable things. And every year, I don’t hold myself accountable to follow through. Nevertheless, I do think 2014 will be a defining year for both my husband and me based on events that happened in 2013. For us, 2013 had many twists and turns and I don’t foresee 2014 being much easier.

At the beginning of 2013, I didn’t resolve to do much aside from getting rid of pregnancy weight and organizing my house. Both were huge failures for me. I’m still the same weight as last year, I had to give up my gym membership because my husband lost his job (not that I used it consistently), and our poor, white-walled house chronically looks like Toy’s R Us took a giant dump on the floor.

Conclusion? While I do think the New Year is a fantastic time to renew or pursue personal goals, it’s important to make sure there is accountability for it. Perhaps this blog will be a nice platform for that. But either way, the goal setting process shouldn’t be saved for January – it should be ongoing. And that’s my point. I should be setting goals throughout the year to follow up on, and perhaps that’s my 2014 resolution. Though I must say that I like the idea of “starting clean” with month #1.

A toast for you!

Since we just got home yesterday, I can’t tell you what will be on our menu this week… because frankly, I haven’t thought about it yet. What I will tell you is that this week will be a “wing it” week, meaning I’ll figure out what I want to make about an hour before I make it.

Happy New Year to you all. Farewell 2013, bring on 2014!

"Winter" in Tallahassee

Moving from Colorado had its fair share of culture shock, but I think the biggest oddity I experienced while living here are warm holidays.  The first Christmas we spent in Tallahassee it was 70 degrees.  We had the windows open.  I wore a tank top.  I probably got sunburned.

Despite my loathing of the hot weather down here, I will say Tallahassee an extremely family friendly town. There are always tons of events going on, especially at Christmastime.  One of my favorites is the Winter Festival that the city sponsors.  The first year we went, it snowed.  Well, they made it snow with snow machines anyway, but it was a nice effect considering we were so used to real White Christmases.  The festival includes a lighting ceremony where they light up all the grand oak trees downtown, followed by the annual Jingle Bell Run (a short & sweet 3K.  We haven’t participated since the kids arrived, but I think next year we will start back up) and then a parade, complete with Santa.  They dedicate one section of the downtown area to kids, appropriately dubbed “Candy Cane Lane” where they don the strip with animatronics and the local candy maker does a candy cane making display and all the kids get free (GIANT) candy canes.  The festival this year is on December 7 (tomorrow).  Festivities begin at 3, and the lighting ceremony starts at 6pm. 

Another one of my favorite events at this time of year is Elf Night at Dorothy B. Oven Park.  Every year they light up the park, and you can drive and walk through a fantastic light display.  We never attended on Elf Night until Abby came, because it is geared towards kids, and well, we weren’t really into that before we had our own!  They almost always provide some sort of treat like cookies, hot chocolate, and hot apple cider.  Lots of people are dressed up as fun characters; gingerbread man, snowman, toy soldier, and of course, SANTA!  We have gone the past two years, and we are hoping to go again this year.  Last year it even rained, but we went anyway!  They also made it “snow” last year – with bubbles.  I think that was Abby’s favorite part.  Elf Night this year is on Thursday December 19 at 5:30pm.

So, Tallahassee friends, what is your favorite family friendly holiday event this month?  We’re always looking for fun things to do with the kids!

Throwback Thursday

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Since I didn't do Wordless Wednesday, I'm doing a Throwback Thursday!

Here is Uncle James and Grammy meeting Sydney Jade for the first time. November 27, 2010. 

Waggoner-Conrad Family Reunion

My grandma has been organizing family reunions for several years now. The first one involved just the Waggoner side in Custer State Park in South Dakota.  My grandma grew up in this area, and she wanted to bring everyone there to experience her history.  

Lap Baby

Since then, we've gathered approximately every other year.  Some of the places we've visited are Vancouver, B.C., Glacier National Park (which I missed due to being very pregnant with Abby), and most recently - as in last week - we met just outside Traverse City, MI.

This was our first airplane ride with two kids.  All in all, it went pretty well.  No delayed flights, kids mostly in a good mood.  The only exception was on the flight from Atlanta to Traverse City.  Abby was dog tired and opted to let everyone on the airplane know this.  Also, due to being so overly tired, she decided to ignore all her potty training and let loose on the airplane seat.  During takeoff.  Ugh.  

Abby's Ride

 Also, because we have two kids, that means we have to travel with two car seats.  Now, I'm sure a lot of people just check their seats on through, but, we are paranoid.  No way will I take ANY chances of getting stuck at our destination sans car seats.  Because, what the heck do you do then?  I know some car rental places will rent car seats, but, I just don't trust that either.  Who's to say they aren't expired or that they haven't been in accidents?  Maybe someone needs to start a "car seat fax" site much like "car fax" that has the history of a car seat.  haha.  So, instead we bought these covers on amazon and Steve lugged them around.  Something else we tried out was a strap that attaches the carseat to your carry-on, and your kiddo can sit in it.  It worked ok, but, the weight of Abby+car seat seemed to squish our carry-on.  

Family Ride!

Anyway, we arrived alive and well, and the weather was AWESOME!  High 70s, low 50s.  In August!!  Oh how I loathe the Florida heat.  It really made Steve and I miss living up north.  We all stayed at a place called Moonlight Bay Resort.  It's not exactly a resort in the traditional sense of the word.  But it was on a lake equipped with several boats, a floating trampoline, and a huge fire pit.  While rustic, I think the place worked out well for a family gathering.  

We had to improvise our sleeping conditions.  Our room was the only room with a queen bed, which Abby & Steve shared, and then Will & I threw an extra twin mattress on the floor next to the bed as our sleeping/night nursing area.  It worked out ok.  It's not like we were in the room for anything other than dressing or sleeping anyway.

It was funny to see who Will took a liking to.  It's pretty much the exact opposite group that Abby did.  These kids are opposite in pretty much every way.  Will loved my uncles and my Aunt Ritsu (my Japanese aunt), but was very leery of my Aunt Yuenan (my Chinese aunt).  Abby used to let Yuenan carry her away and take her everywhere, which is totally out of character for her.  Funny how that works out.  Will also didn't care much for his great-gmaw.  Well, she could make him laugh and they played together, but, sitting on her lap was out of the question!

Our days were spent either on the lake or in town, and our nights were spent gathering over dinner and chilling by the campfire.  We went through a LOT of beer and a LOT of wine.  But it was fun.  My brother's birthday was that week, so I crocheted him something special...a domo-kun hat!  I wish I took a photo of him wearing it, but I totally spaced it in all the excitement.  :)  Maybe he has one that he can send me.

The best idea about air travel with kids was coming home on a Saturday vs. Sunday.  Having that day at home to decompress and get the kids back on schedule was great.  Abby fell asleep at 4:30pm on Sunday - what we thought was just a late nap.  But, she slept through dinner, Sleeping Beauty, and slept right on through until 7am the next morning when it was time to get up and get ready for school!  Apparently the trip wore her out!

There was a lot more about the trip I could write about, but I am not sure it would be much interesting to anyone except family.  Like our bike ride (with full on Abby meltdown), our birthday/graduation celebration dinner at Mission Table, or the stick of dynamite someone set off the first night.  But, I'll save those for memories.  :)

My Toddler Sucks

So this is more a mommy vent vs. an informative “here’s a tip for you” blog post. Because today I just don’t feel like pretending to have any answers. You’re getting a taste of raw Christina.

I'm very well aware that children all develop at different rates and that I shouldn’t compare my child to another, blah blah blah. But I’m frustrated for many reasons over the lack of progress in a few areas. And if I’m frustrated, maybe someone else out there is frustrated, too. Maybe I should just go drink a beer instead of writing a blog post.

My daughter fights sleep with every bone in her little body.

For the past month or so, Sydney hasn’t wanted to go to sleep before 9. Or 10. And sometimes 11! I really had no idea why. No matter what time we got her into the bed, or what type of routine we followed, she flat out refused to go to sleep. Most times she would demand, “Ride!” meaning she wanted to ride around in our car to fall asleep. And my husband and I gave in…a lot…because we wanted her asleep so we could relax. It figures that NOW she wants motion. When she was an infant, she hated her swing.

When I was pretty much at a complete loss, I read this and decided that she must be going through another sleep regression. I was convinced, because at 4 months, she hit her very first sleep regression. I had a really hard time adjusting. She would wake up at 2a and stay awake until 5a. Then I had to go to work and pretend I knew what the f@#% I was doing. I gained 25 pounds during this time, because exhaustion threw my body into constant carb-craving mode. I have still not lost this weight. I’m lazy, I guess.

A few days ago, I saw the (most likely) true culprit for her sleep fighting. Two Year Molars. She still shows 3 signs, (no sleep, drinking excessive amounts of milk, and not wanting to eat) and all this fun were for just the bottom molars. The top molars haven’t even started showing themselves!

My daughter is still not potty trained, nor is she even remotely interested. And she’ll be 3 in November!!!

I partly wonder if this is because she is in a daycare school full of boys her age. She acts like dirty diapers don’t bother her. I try really hard to take her potty every morning and she gets REALLY mad at me for doing this. I even tried using M&Ms as a bribe (something I was actually against) as a reward for going potty. But, it does nothing for her. She could care less that chocolate is associated with peeing. She fights, yells, screams, cries, or melts down on me when I put a pull-up on her and then she demands diapers. I haven’t tried putting her in regular panties, but I have a feeling it wouldn’t work. I think I’ll be part of the 25% of kids who FINISH potty training after the age of 3. Knowing my luck, it will be 4. And if you read the first couple of comments on this article, because my daughter is not potty trained already, Scott and I have very poor parenting skills.

When I Google “potty training” to get strategies, all it really does is infuriate me because I read what seems like the impossible. “My daughter was potty trained at 18 months.” “My daughter was a breeze to train.” “All we did was chase her around with a potty to catch her puddles.” “We sat her on the potty to read books for hours.” WTH?? I don’t have time or patience for that! So we’ll wait, I guess. And while other parents are out and about, taking their kids to public restrooms to use the pot, I’ll be using the bacteria, poop-infested diaper changing station… her legs and torso will be hanging over the sides and I’ll be completely grossed out at the loaf she just pinched in her diaper.

I have a super picky eater.

Sydney NEVER eats what I present to her for dinner, NEVER. It’s maddening. She might pick at what I give her, but for the most part, she just stares at it, plays with it, or throws it and says, “Eww, disgusting!” I feel inadequate as a cook when she does things like that and frankly, me making it look pretty on her plate is a complete waste of time and effort.

Along those lines, she hates most vegetables. She might eat sweet peppers periodically, but as far as snacking on carrots, celery with peanut butter, or eating green beans, peas… even ones out of the can… she 100% refuses. The other night, she proceeded to do nothing but squish each pea I gave her with her fork. She ate zero. It makes me wonder why I even bother feeding her to begin with. It just turns into a big fat waste because it always goes in the trash.

Anyway, there you have some of my current frustrations and otherwise things that make me feel completely inept as a mom.

Family Financial Goals

Break open the piggy bank! 

I honestly feel like I’m not the best person to talk to about finances. Well – what I mean is, I can manage money… I just really dislike doing it. And forget about leaving it to my husband. He doesn’t have a budgeting bone in his designer body. I’m probably one of the lazier budget people and only slightly anal. I let the bank pay our bills, schedule recurring ACH payments, split our paychecks, etc. But as far as strategy, I feel like I don’t have much of one for our family. This is where we lack.

My parents really didn’t instill money management in me when I was little. And I don’t blame them for the way I view things now… it’s just something we didn’t really talk about or practice. So, when I got to college, I felt like I let loose… frivolously spent money, and basically experienced every consequence resulting from things you’re NOT supposed to do:

• “What do I have to do? Sign up for a credit card and get a free t-shirt? Awesome… count me in!”
• “I get 40% off if I by 5 bras and sign up for a card? I always need undies and bras. Ok!”
• “Eh, I’ll pay that bill later… that $30 late fee isn’t too much.”
• “I seriously need these CDs, but I only have 1 more withdrawal on this account until the end of the month… eh, what the hell.”

Meanwhile, my spending remained the same, I left or lost part time jobs, I started paying for gas with quarters, and collectors began to call. Like most everyone, I eventually made it through and got myself to a better place. But the lessons were painful. And while I did learn from my mistakes, I've just gotten used to the fact we have debt. I've accepted a "we'll always be paying something off" attitude and that's not okay.

This is the first year I’ve actively been trying to get the family out of debt. There are things that I want to do and know that are upcoming that I’d like to prepare for. I’ve learned that once you know what you want, you have to create a plan to get it. I thought I’d share a few of our families overall goals, and some of my strategies that I’m using to get there. But our biggest hurdle: Debt.

Our Family’s Goals

• Build a more robust savings.
• Completely pay off all our debt, including credit cards we still have outstanding, auto loans, school loans, and anything else that we have to pay back (like the system we bought to kill the termites around our house.)
• Refinance our home. This could be tricky because we currently have an FHA loan. Then, I’d like to do what we can to make double payments.
• Cut our grocery bill in half and reduce how much we eat out.
• Long term:  Set aside money for an entrepreneurial effort in 10 - 12 years.

Our Personal Strategies

• Once we’ve paid off a portion of debt (car payment, cards), roll those payments into another payment.
• Drive our vehicles into the ground to save on car payments. We have Honda’s, so hopefully we are ok here! The first one will be paid off in October. Whoohoo!
• Continue our participation in the food co-op, and grocery shop bi-weekly, relying on bulk foods I’ve purchased for weeks I don’t shop, or eating leftovers I’ve frozen.
• Keep our eating out to 1 – 2 times a week. This includes going to lunch with coworkers.
• Be more diligent about catching sales. Currently, I never really look for sales.
• Keep our current furniture for another 4 or 5 years (our couch is already 10, and our mattress is 8. They should be replaced, but I’m going to stretch it.)
• Reevaluate our need for certain services, like cable.
• Constantly update our plan.

At this point, this is about all I would like to surrender to the public in a blog post regarding our family’s goals and strategies. J Do you have pointers or tips for us? I can revisit our progress over the next few months, so stay tuned! (And it helps me be more accountable.)

I’d like to share one last thing – when I was a kid, I remember asking for an allowance because I wanted to buy things on my own. But my mom only offered me things like $0.10 for taking out the trash or $0.25 for a sink full of dishes. Even as a kid, I knew that was really unreasonable. I’d maybe make $1 a week at those rates. Because I refused that deal, I never received an allowance. But for my daughter, I’d like to engrain money management into her. But I can’t do it if we aren’t good examples. I want her to understand when something is $300, and she only gets $10/week for chores (or something similar), it’s going to take a long time to afford. And remember that money is hard to earn and budgeting is key.

What do you to reiterate money management to your children?