The Mother Lovin' Glovers: My new normal...

This is the week that I would have returned from maternity leave - well I guess today would have been a snow day, but you get the idea. Instead, I'm officially a stay at home mom!

I know it seems as though I've been beating the dead horse by constantly talking about staying at home, and technically I have been at home since the week of Thanksgiving. It just feels a little bit different knowing that I no longer have employment. I haven't been this stress free in YEARS. My entire life has been filled with me learning something new, and now I get to learn how to be an awesome version of myself. All of the learning has been education/career focused until now: 13 years of k-12, 4 years of college, almost 3 years deciding between law school and grad school, 2 years of grad school, 2 years learning how to be a higher ed professional…and before I know it, I'm 30.

In my last post I mentioned all the goals I have for being 30. I should add one more of getting to know myself better. I spend so much time getting to know other things and people, that I don't get to spend much time on me. I still don't with me spending 24 hours a day with Charlie, a little less than that with William, and quite a bit less than that with Lance. However, there are those quiet times where I'm not cleaning or doing laundry, and I can just think. I know I want to be happier with myself - and a big part of that is being healthier. Another part of it, is that I can be a bit of an intellectual (not at all in a conceited manner) who needs to have her brain stimulated. That was a concern of mine when deciding to stay home. I didn't want to give up my daily brain usage. I'm now figuring out that there is no such thing as an idle brain with me - it just redirects. I will always have something I'm needing to plan or a new skill to learn. It seems that lately, I've been feeling pulled to writing. I'd love to have an amazing idea strike me so I could have so much fun writing. I have a little pipe dream of writing a novel, the problem is that I need the idea or concept. I don't even care if it ever gets published, I'd just like to have an original idea written by yours truly. We'll see what develops in months to come. :)

Because everyone deserves to see a picture of two precious brothers

On the family front, my boys continue to become more and more awesome. William is becoming so funny, and I think he may be realizing that his defiant streak gets him nowhere, so there's no point in letting me have it. Our lingering issue is getting him to keep his butt in bed. Every night takes us over an hour to get him to bed. He comes out with a request for hugs and kisses, then to have help going potty, and then just to have mommy or daddy to lay with him for a minute. I'm constantly conflicted. Parts of me wants to indulge him in his requests, because he will never be this age again. The other part of me gets totally exhausted by his persistence and I just want him to hush up and get in bed. I guess if this is how one big annoyance then I can live with it. His little brother being totally adorable also helps me cope with the tiny William drawbacks. Charlie is getting to the point where he's desperately trying to giggle. Lance can get him going by singing "Horse Right Here" from Guys and Dolls (don't tell him I wrote this), and I bring the giggles out by smiles and chats. I guess he just thinks I'm funny looking.

Oh yeah, I can't remember if I mentioned that I donated my hair on my birthday. I gave up 9.5" to Beautiful Lengths. I originally donated to them in 2007 through Walmart when 7 of us at the home office were selected to have our hair cut and styled by celebrity stylist Danilo (think Gwen Stefani). This time I think may hair was longer than it had ever been. See the pictures? I'm so relieved to have it chopped. Long, thick hair (while pretty) can be a literal pain. Since my hair is so heavy, it actually gives me headaches when it is long. Not to mention it takes 20-30 minutes to straighten - not to mention time needed if I actually dried it. Now I can have my hair dried and straightened in the time it used to take to straighten. Plus… may hair is going to make some lady a pretty nice wig some day.