Having Some Fun

Holden has taken to dancing this weekend. Well, its mostly spinning. And he had a nasty fall into the end table as a result. However, after a bit of comfort, he went on to dance some more. All in all, I bet he danced for 30 minutes Saturday afternoon. It's rare for any activity to keep his attention for more than 15 minutes so it was fun to watch. Here is an edited version of his version of dancing.




Along with the nasty fall during dancing, Holden went to a friends for a play date on Sunday. Holden and his buddy, Ben, collided in the hallway and Holden ended up with a nice black eye. Of course after a few minutes comfort he was off running again.
We had a few snow days last week here in Charlotte and after 3 days of being cooped up in the house, Holden and I were running out of ideas. Here is our meager attempt at bowling.
Holden and Moe have become best pals (well as much as Moe will tolerate a 2 year old).

2011 Begins Like This

I floated by the idea of a month long spending freeze to Jeremy before the holidays, and it starts tomorrow. It is going to be much harder for me than for him. It entails no eating out, no buying clearance items at Target, and trying to come up with things to do that are free. You may ask "are you crazy" but I've been gearing myself up for it all through the holidays. We are only going to spend what we need to live our lives, groceries, gas, household items, etc. But not starting any new projects that would require trips to Home Depot. I'm hoping it helps determine how much money just flows out of the checkbook without our acute awareness. We do have an exception related to a good friend leaving Charlotte before the month's end. I can't justify not attending a going away lunch or dinner just due to the spending freeze, I would regret it.

Also, I have decided to publicly announce my 2011 goals (not resolutions). This way I can check back on how well I'm coming along. And the few readers I have can make suggestions for helping me accomplish them if they would like.

Amanda's 2011 Goals

• Will - Yes yell at me know, Jeremy and I have been meaning to do a Will since we got married 4 years ago. Its time we did it.
  
• Gardianship - Same story, we need to have something written out for Holden, this is a hard one for us mainly because we can't settle on who to put down.
• 500 Miles in 2011 - Laura put me on to this goal as she completed it in 2010. We also got a Wii for Christmas and I think this will help during the winter months. I haven't run since October and my excuse has been the lack of daylight.
• Healthiness - I'm not going to put a number down because I have disappointed myself for 2 years in a row. But I really want to get rid of the baby weight I've been carrying around at a minimum. I also hope the spending freeze helps get me back on track with the lack of eating out. I want to be more diligent with our meatless Mondays and we try to follow a real food diet (no preservatives, no artificial ingredients, etc.) but it has allowed maybe a bit too much butter into the diet and I need to find a balance between healthy/low - fat and real food so I don't fall into buying "diet" food. Weight watchers has been a huge help for my girlfriend Stacey, so I have rejoined as a tracking tool and recipe source.
  
• Family Dinners - This might not happen until the 2nd half of 2011 but we want to push Holden's dinner time back an hour so that we can all eat together the same meal. I'm not sure if he is still too little to do this as he wants to eat at 5:30 now and its impractical to think we will all be home at 5:30 let alone have dinner made.
  
• Church - We think its time we start putting some consistency in our church attendance for Holden.
• Date Night - Once a Month (after the spending freeze)
• Pay off 2 unsecured loans - This is part of a larger 5 year goal of ours to buy a home in a different school district by the time Holden enrolls in 1st grade.
  
• 5K and Warrior Dash - I'm still on the fence with the warrior dash because I don't want to do it alone, but definitely going to run another 5 K once it warms up.

That's it ladies and gentleman. Hope your 2011 is a great year

Christmas Vacation

We had a great quite Christmas here in Charlotte. My dad came and stayed which was great. We watched lots of college football and enjoyed the rare white Christmas.
The rare photo where Holden looked at the camera during presents
My dad and I took a day trip to the triangle and visited Duke and UNC. Had some great BBQ at the Pit in Raleigh.
We went to the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte on New Year's Eve. Clemson got their tail kicked by USF. It was a good time and great weather for a football game.

This Job is Tough

I have been contemplating a whiny blog post for about a week now, but can't quite come up with the words because when we have a bad day with Holden or a bad couple days in a row, then he seems to snap out of it. And despite my complaining below, it is still awesome to see him explore his environment and watch how much he is learning both in his speech and motor skills. It's sweet to see how exciting little things are to him, like putting his shoes on (the highlight of his morning).

But I will say, that sometimes its really tough being a mom. I think we are in the beginnings of the "terrible twos". He has had a language explosion but we still only understand about 1/2 of what he tries to tell us. So, when we don't understand he has a fit and gets frustrated and we try to stay calm but the whole situation tends to melt down for a bit.

Secondly, he is really starting to assert his independence and we are having to do some disciplining and its hard to explain to a bawling 21 month old why he can't have a cookie for dinner. And timeouts are more of a nightmare than the initial reason for the timeout. Someone explain to me why putting a bawling toddler in timeout and trying to keep him there for a minute is a good idea. Because right now, the minute is just as long for us as it is for him.

I'm not giving up because I don't want a poorly mannered, terror of a kid. But man is it tough sometimes to not give in just to stop the crying and whining. I will say I'm still lucky not to have a kid that holds his breath and throws a kicking screaming writhing on the floor temper tantrum (yet).

On a lighter note, here are some Santa photos. I will say that going to see Santa is a total racket, you stand in line for 1 hour minimum and then dish out at least $20 for the smallest photo package and Santa didn't even say anything to Holden while he was on his lap. But the photos are cute and I will be visiting Santa every year and dishing out the $20 plus bucks until Holden thinks its stupid (which I suspect will be somewhere between the ages of 11 and 13).

Santa 2009

Santa 2010

To Me (only younger)

Today I turn 30. Here is a letter to my 20 year old self, the person that started me on the path to who I am today ( an idea from Cassie).

Dearest Amanda,

Thank you for being the strong willed girl that you are. I know that you think your world is crashing in on you right now, but I will tell you that you come out of it on top and knowing what you want more than ever. You figure out what you really want in your life and make some really hard decisions about your love life, your career and your values that you still believe in. Its okay to talk to someone about what your going through, in fact I recommend it. You stress out too much (we are still working on it today).

Its a big year for you. You live in your first apartment and I will tell you this much, don't rent a basement apartment. You make a very big decision related to your college career and its hard but you make a very good choice and through the hard work you come out loving what you went to school for. You will have some doubters about your change in direction, but you are making the right decision and the doubters will become believers. Don't be so scared, believe in yourself.

Boys, they are the greatest love and heartache in your life. That boy your with I know your facing some disappointment with him right now, its OK to give up on him. In fact, you have someone in your life that your aren't acknowledging, someone that has been trying to get your attention for a few years. Open your eyes, he becomes not only your best friend but also the husband and father you dreamed about. All I can say is your life is going to be really good by the time your 30 and that you have prince charming in your life already, you just don't know it yet. And you have an awesome wedding, just like you dream about.

If you didn't gather from the last paragraph - you’re going to be a mom. It’ll happen at exactly the right time. Just remember that you don't have a lot of time to get to the hospital like they tell you in the class and epidurals ROCK. There’s nothing to be afraid of and oh my god – wait till you meet your son. You can’t even imagine the wonder and beauty and magic of a son.

As for mommy and daddy, you need to try and not get so involved. I know your trying to be the one that holds things together, but you need to work on how you feel about the disappointment. Everyone comes out of it okay and you will be able to repair your relationships with both of them. Don't be so hard on them, marriage is hard work. What they taught you growing up doesn't all have to be thrown out the window because they didn't want to keep fighting for something that wasn't there anymore. They are still good parents and you will come to realize that you were really lucky to have the childhood you had.

Keep going to the gym, its your best stress reliever. I know you have body issues (and those haven't gone away, we're still working on it) but when you work out you feel better about everything. Keep it up and give yourself a break, your beautiful and worth it.

Also, it's not such a bad thing to get passionate about a cause, or take sides on things. I know conflict makes you a bit uncomfortable (well, lets be honest really uncomfortable), but some things are definitely worth having an opinion on, even if it makes you and some other people a bit uneasy.

Your 20s are going to be stressful, hard and full of big life changing decisions that put you in a really great place when you turn 30. You will be happier and healthier and all that crap you are going through will make you so much stronger. So what if it takes you years to get it all together? Stop being so hard on yourself. You are okay, you are beautiful, you are stronger than you think. You will be fine and you will look back and realize that it all happened for a reason. So, good job, honey. You are doing what you need to do in order to become me.

Turn up the volume on Cake's "I will survive", roll down the car windows and sing to your heart's content. Don't forget to have fun.

Amanda

A star in the making

Here is Holden's television debut. Our alumni group in Charlotte was filmed during a game and shown on the local cable access show. Go Big Red!

Ren Fest / Halloween

We visited the Charlotte Renaissance Festival on Halloween as great place to dress up Holden and let him trick or treat in the daylight. It was also good people watching as usual. They had a little petting zoo so we got a snippet of video on how excited Holden gets with the animals.