Who's the Boss?

Yesterday, when I was on my hands and knees picking up goldfish crackers while Colin was devilishly (is that a word?) laughing in his high chair I realized something....we like to think as parents that we are "in charge" there is just no way that is true.

Did you ever read the book "Seinlanguage"? There is a chapter where Seinfeld writes that if aliens are looking down at us, they will think dogs run the world since they lead us around by their leashes and pick up their poo. Well, I would like to propose a change...the aliens would think dogs and babies run the world. Like the dogs, we clean up their poo, but in addition, we make ourselves look silly by singing funny songs, making funny faces and picking up food that they throw on the ground while laughing at us.

That is all - I will try to write a more serious update soon!

Thoughts on 9/11 for the next generation

There are a lot of images today; pictures and video of the tragedy and the heros from that day, 10 years ago. I have been reflecting on how we will explain this to Colin when he is old enough to understand a little more and one thing became clear. Of course it is important to remember the actual event and every 9/11 we will say a prayer for the lives lost that day. The thing that I really hope to show him though was the unity in the hours and days after. I was away from my family at Gonzaga, but was able to have a candlelight vigil with my Zag family. There was an obvious connection that you could feel with everyone around you. Remember how people just tried to look each other in the eye and smile a little more?
There is no way our generation's children will ever fully understand the feeling that day (to be honest, there is no way I can fully understand how it felt to be directly impacted by the events) but I guess my hope is that when Colin sees my tearing up when we are watching the memorials on TV - we can have a conversation about not waiting for a tragedy to want to look strangers in the eye and give them a smile; that we don't have to wait for a tragic event to say thank you to the firefighters, police and serrvice men and women.

Supermoms....

I never really thought I would post about something like this, but it sort of struck me and so I figured, isn't that the point of a blog? Maybe it isn't interesting to anyone but me!! But again...isn't that the point of a blog sometimes?

First, I want to say that this is NOT a commentary by me on whether any person should be a working mom or a stay at home mom. Everyone should make their own decision regarding that and I truly believe moms make the best decision they can with their circumstances and desires! When I heard of this story and read this article, it just brought a few thoughts to my mind.

http://healthland.time.com/2011/08/23/working-women-who-subscribe-to-the-supermom-myth-are-more-likely-to-be-depressed/

So, although no one asked, here are my thoughts. I obviously am not a professional researcher, so these are amateur conclusions!

Finding balance as a mother is pretty difficult. I think this applies to those mothers who are working and those mothers who stay at home full time. It is easier to understand the difficulty for those who are go to a paying job. You have to balance a job with expectations and time away from your home where you want to build a family life. I think moms who are home full time sometimes have a hard time finding balance as well - it is easy to get too involved in details of life that are possibly not important to your overall happiness. Since it is more difficult to physically be away from home, you can fall into a habit of losing focus on the reasons you actually decided to stay home.

Sorry guys, but I really think the following is true in most cases. No matter working or not working mom...women bear the brunt of "expectations" in home life. This can be a great thing for women and also a burden. I say it can be great because when things seem to be in order (no matter who did the work) I think women usually get the credit! It can also be a burden because is things are out of order, women tend to feel like people will think less of them, not the husband.

I think moms often put unrealistic expectations on themselves (working or stay at home moms.) We look at the best aspects of other moms (their cooking, their outside the home career, their decorating skills or their volunteering efforts) and we expect to be able to do all of those.

So, I guess my point from all of this (if any of you are still reading) is that in order to be happy as a mom, we should really reflect on the reasons we are doing certain things. We should examine who we really are and what our gifts are for our families, homes and communities. If we all focus on our own best aspects I think it will be easier to avoid feelings of inadequacy.

What do you think?

Summer!!!

OK - officially, summer has been here for awhile. However, since today was the first day that REALLY felt like summer so far...I have decided to make this my first summer blog post! (Does everyone buy that? I think I have just been lame about blogging!)

Since we haven't had great weather, we have totally taken advantage of every nice day!

Playing at Lake Meridian with the toys that mama and her cousins used to play with. (man they don't make toys like they used to, that boat is about 25 years old I think!)

Splash park at Lake Sammamish!!! This place is awesome!

Hiking up at Tiger Mountain!




Mariners game - well some of us had fun at this one!

Tomorrow!!

As I think most people who would read this blog have heard....tomorrow is officially my last day of paid employment. I am embarking on a new career as a stay at home mom. I am SO excited about my "new" role but I will admit that I am also feeling a little sad. I honestly never really thought I would have the sad feelings, but in reflection, I think that like with any major life change a little part of you gets "stored away."

I cannot wait to spend more time with Colin and to come up with new activities for us to do. I am also excited to be able to take care of things around the house to attempt for more quality time as a family on the weekends!

I am SO thankful that this is a possibility for us and I am promising myself not to take it for granted. I mean, how could I take this cute little face for granted?!

Daycare, reading and an award....

We started taking Colin to daycare! It was not nearly as hard as I thought it would be, mostly because he LOVED it there. New toys, kids to play with, new people to watch and new food to eat. This morning when I dropped him off, I was actually a little sad because I thought he would have at least a LITTLE seperation anxiety from me. I guess I should be happy...on another note...apparently he has been winning the "Best Eater Award." So, I guess he is a little pig! I think I need to be more creative in what I feed him! I have never been a techie, but I actually LOVE having an Iphone if for no other reason than to use the decent camera (oh yeah and a few games of "words with friends" is awesome too!) If you would have told me that I wouldn't always have our regular camera on the ready with Colin about 6 months ago, I would have thought you were crazy. We are lucky to have grandparents who photograph him frequently. Like I said though, it is nice to have a phone that take pretty good pictures - so a few of my favorites from lately!

Watching Sunday of the Masters! Reading his "Animal Book" - I think he can pick out the dog and monkey when we are on the right pages...

Back to Blogging

Here is a picture of our little blue eyed guy. Looks like he really is going to have blue eyes! Cannot believe he is nearing 10 months old!

I have been wanting to get back to this blog, but many days I just don't want to be on my computer once I get home from work! So...I am recommitting to the blog (not that I think a ton of people read it, but it does force me to record things from our life!)

For a quick update, we have had a great first few months of 2011. Matt and I got a little vacation to Las Vegas to watch our Zags win the WCC and Colin has had a lot of grandparent time, since we are lucky enough to have grandparents babysitting while we are at work!

I have started a new job at Deloitte - I will be doing the campus recruiting and I am so excited! Matt is doing great at Amazon and we are all 3 looking forward to some better weather :)

New Year's Eve!

We had a great time on New Year's eve with the Murrays. We went to the Garden d'Lights in Bellevue and then back to their house for crab and fondue - yummy!
We don't have a lot of pictures, but here are a few from the light show!