2013 - Here we come!!

I have a pretty exciting 2013 planned.  I know that my posting has been sporadic (at best), but please excuse me due to my recent surgery.  With that behind me, I can't wait to focus on Full Plate Momma.

Some exciting ventures for the year:

- I've started pinning on Pinterest as Full Plate Momma.  Please follow me for lots of ideas for natural living, kid fun, and general awesomeness.

- Our facebook page will be launched very soon.  I'm just waiting for a couple of good pictures and then we should be good to go.  Excited to have that happen.

- The Momma Derby will be created.  It's going to be fun, so stay tuned.

- I am planning to attend my first BlogHer conference in July with my best buddy Sarah.  Since it's my first I don't have high hopes for party invitations and such, but I am looking forward to learning a ton, making connections, and growing.  Oh, and also celebrating Sarah's birthday.  We are going to have a blast!

- I am turning 35 this year.  With my recent health issues and well, my general oldness, I plan to celebrate in a big way.  I can't wait to share my 35 random acts of kindness.  It's going to be great.

- I've had a couple people show interest in some guest writing.  These posts will be great.  I'm excited to see things from a different point of view and hear other momma's experiences.

- Full Plate Momma is officially moving to fullplatemomma.com.  Make sure you find me and follow me there!

So excited for 2013 and the improvements that it will bring to Full Plate Momma!

New Year's resolutions

My opinion regarding New Year's resolutions is very torn.  On one hand I love the idea of a clean slate, a fresh start, of opportunity.  On the other hand, I’ve never made a resolution that I’ve kept.  One year I even attempted to make what I believed to be no-fail resolution of taking a multivitamin daily.  After the bottle that I bought made my stomach queasy I swore that I would try another brand immediately but never actually did.  Even the easiest of my resolutions are forgotten and insignificant shortly within the new year.

I can’t help but think that 2013 is going to be my year of change, whether I want it to or not.  Since this feels all out of my control, I decided to once again make resolutions.  Since the multivitamin incident I’ve neglected new year’s resolutions, but I feel excited and almost a sense of craving for them this year.  I want change, I’ve been searching for it for months, but not necessarily the change that is looming right around the corner.  Call them resolutions, call them lifestyle changes, call them what you will, but in light of the new year, I have made a list of MY hopeful accomplishments that I plan to strive for.

Here they are:

- eat better (for me this means much less red meat, smaller portions, and incorporating more fruits and vegetables in my meals)

- practice yoga regularly (my goal is 5 times a week and I don’t care if it’s once a day and three times in a day one day and two times the next, I just want to make it more of a habit)

- read (I just finished a book that I received for Christmas and it felt like such a wonderful achievement after shelving this hobby for years)

- continue to nurture the relationships that are so dear to me (no explanation there)

Not a resolution, but the things that I am ecstatic for in 2013:

- Kate visiting in February

- Sarah and my trip to Chicago in July

- Jamie in my trip to Napa Valley in the fall

Happy New Year!  Best wishes to all for a wonderful year ahead!

Yoga me

A few years ago, before our wedding, I decided to join a fitness center and start taking some classes.  Most of them featured dance aerobics, which was ok, but I found that I loved the yoga class.  It was offered twice a week and I even remembering battling snow to get there.  For those of you that don’t know me well, I take every measure possible to avoid driving in snow.  After our wedding, life got busier, I got pregnant, and I canceled my membership.

Lately I’ve been experiencing some tension and it’s affected me physically – tight shoulders, sore back, etc.  During all of this internal reflection that I’ve been concentrating on recently, I couldn’t help but to remember the joy that yoga brought me a few years ago.  This paired with the tension, I felt myself being drawn back into the world of yoga.  I began my search for a yoga class offered locally. 

Obviously I started with the fitness center from all of those years ago, but since it has changed ownership and only offers a “Yogafit” class which was described as an aerobics class incorporating some yoga poses.  Um, no thanks.  My search continued to the YMCA and any other place that I could find by googling.  Most of the results were disappointing.  If classes were offered, they were always at the most inopportune times, during the week in the middle of the day.  I felt frustrated and discouraged.

I abandoned the idea for a little while, but I still felt nudged to pursue yoga again.  I found my solution within a blog post, Every Breath I Take.  It’s a virtual yoga class.  Perfect.  Although there is definitely some repetition, it’s not the equivalent of a DVD.  Different classes are offered during various periods of time and can be accessed as often and whenever during that period.  Bonus, it’s very affordable.  I am loving it.  I had an overwhelming feeling of contentment after my first session and it’s kept me grounded since.  I feel at peace with myself.

For the first time in a very long time, I am looking forward to something.  Every day I anxiously wait for the evening so that I can end my day with a yoga class.  It is my favorite part of my day.

Enjoy every minute

Most mothers of young children have heard a stranger’s advice to “enjoy every minute”.  This advice is usually given when a shower hasn’t been possible for days, my son is a whining mess, I desperately need to use the restroom, and the only reason that I’ve left the house is because I realized that we are out of milk.  Obviously when I am not enjoying that particular moment, which usually makes me feel guilty for taking any second for granted.

A couple of months ago Collin had his one-year-old wellness checkup.  I was becoming impatient in the waiting room.  Collin was just starting to walk and found a nice open space and captive audience to practice his new skill.  I was quickly becoming exhausted as I redirected him away from the pale, coughing, sneezing, and generally sick people who were also waiting for their appointments.  I finally settled him down with some toys (and silently prayed that those who played with them before Collin were also there for wellness checkups) and had a seat next to a woman that was obviously very entertained by my son.  She asked the usual questions – his age, if I had any other children, etc.  After I answered her, she started to say something else which I only assumed would be the standard “enjoy every minute” advice.  Instead she surprised me by saying that she remembered those days and how much work they are.  She briefly told me about her children and her references made me assume that her kids were only a few years older than mine, no older than elementary school age.  I asked her a couple of questions about her children, including their ages, and she replied “23 and 25”.  Right then I realized that she was reminiscing as she told me about them.

I took such comfort in our conversation.  I know that I’m not going to enjoy every minute, and that every minute isn’t full of silliness, hugs, kisses, and general happiness.  That those are the rewards of parenting, not the duties.  It’s craziness to expect that anyone ever could.

I also realized that the moments that I do enjoy will become imbedded in my memory and easily accessible in the future.  These are the moments that I want to relay to strangers that ask about my children in a waiting room.  This is also the reason that these strangers feel compelled to give such impossible advice, because those are the moments that they are recalling.  Even as they see my son throw a fit or whine excessively, they can’t help but remember the cuddles and cuteness of their own children years ago. 

I feel blessed that Collin was able to bring a bit of her past back to her.  It was such a gift to talk to someone that could see that I was not enjoying that particular moment, but still couldn’t help but take pleasure in it.  She made such an impact on my outlook of enjoying every moment with my kids.  Now I’m off to hug two adorable boys.

Abolishing Daylight Savings Time should be on today’s ballot

I hate Daylight Savings Time.  I really don’t care if it’s dark outside when I leave for work and light when I return, or vise versa.  What I do care about is having two happy little boys and DST makes sure that doesn’t happen for at least two weeks out of the year.

Okay, I’ll admit, “fall back” is a bit easier to manage than “spring forward”.  Although we end up getting up at the crack of dawn, it is much easier to put the boys to bed late, unlike in the spring when we try to get them to go to sleep an hour early.  Great, now I’m dreading the spring.

I’m sure someone can give me all kinds of cultural, maybe even scientific reasons for the time change.  Or even advice on how to handle it with the boys a bit better.  I will stand my ground with my statement that I don’t care.  I find this ritual completely unnecessary.  Unless the time change eliminates winter, and in my experience that has never happened, it will never get my vote.

My full plate

When I became a mom in 2009, I frantically searched for support via internet for the full-time working mom.  I was frustrated with the results which led me to extremes and to believe that staying home with my child was the only option for a good mom.  Either a simpler life that glorified stay at home moms or the struggles that working moms face leaving their children therefore glorifying stay at home moms.  Unfortunately, in my delicate state and emotional confusion of having my first child and becoming a parent, I took this a little too seriously and found myself battling post partum depression. 

 

I know, it even sounds extreme to me looking back at it.  Trust me, it happened.  I just felt so unsure of myself anyway and having society trying to convince me that my lifestyle needed an overhaul was not what I needed.  So, here I am.  A (full-time, outside of the home) working mom of two amazing sons, William (3) and Collin (1).  I’m married to a wonderful man, Jason, although, just like every marriage, we have our ups and downs and times of strife.

 

I struggle with my decisions and I’m here to work some of those out.  Not that I live in regret, I’m just realistic.  Most decisions come with some kind of consequence and now that my decisions affect a family, I don’t take them nearly as lightly.  I know that I am not the only one going through this and hope that me working through my experiences triggers others to share theirs.