A Look Back on 2011

The past year has brought about quite a bit of change. 2011 was a good year and like Tommy has said recently, we've had better years and we've had worse years. It's not a year that I'm particularly sad to see go, nor am I discouraged or overwhelmingly optimistic going into the new year.

I started out the year commuting about an hour and fifteen minutes one way to work, Tommy worked over nights with a side of some tedious writing work. He was then offered a higher paying job, we paid down and off bills and I was afforded the privilege of  being a stay at home mom. It's been a very good thing for the family. Yes, we have less money coming into the house now but it's all worth it.

Faith started school (Pre-K) this year and it's been going... some days she does really well with it and enjoys being at school, other days not-so-much. That's like most any other kid, though. She's still classified as non-verbal, but we've been working on ways to try to communicate more effectively with her. Like everything else, some days that works out well and other days not-so-much. She's around a lot more kids now and can (sometimes) tolerate more noises than what she used to be able to handle.

Everyday I've been working on potty training with Faith I've gotten her to go at least once a day in the potty chair (yay!) , I consider her just sitting in the bathroom on the potty chair and not flipping out a success. So, in that regard we're getting there. :) She's still against the light, so she's going in the dark too. We do have the hall light on though so we can at least kinda see in there. ;0)

Angelus started 2nd grade and he is still kicking butt and taking names with his God given reading ability. He's been working a lot more this year at trying to learn how to draw. He seems to enjoy that a lot at the moment. He's a great son, brother and person. We've had some challenging times with him this year, but they seem to be getting better and better.

With the new year coming up, I suppose this year I plan on having resolutions ( I don't usually), there's just so many things I don't really like about me that I know I could work on. Such as since the age of 13ish I've never actually liked the way I looked except for around the time frame of 27 going into 28.  This year has brought on a whole new level of not ever liking how I look.  I figure I'll never really like how I look but there's tons of things I can do to become healthier and just a better person. And really isn't just being a better person way more important than how a person physically looks?

Trying to have a better schedule in the house. We're pretty laid back here in the house which I like a lot, but I could do better with some sort of schedules. Excluding getting Faith on a bedtime routine, that's just an exercise in futility and I'm not gonna stress myself out about that.

Tommy and I also didn't really have any wedding photos taken of us in our wedding attire, so he's agreed to do it for our 10th anniversary. For our 9th just seemed weird, but 10th makes sense.

I have been a tad (lot) crankier than what I want to be and what's normal for me, but I *think* I'm doing better with that and want to continue to be a happier person that I'm used to being.

We had so many more Angels sent our way this year as well, it's just exciting to see all of the great and wonderful people that are still out there in the world. There are so many stories of awful things happening to people that sometimes one forgets just how wonderful some people you come across in life are.

Well, there's my "year end" mish-mash of stuff that doesn't really flow very well. One day I'll have another blog post that is actually good writing, but until then....

Have a Happy New Year everyone!

Kind of an update...

Things are moving along here. Faith and Angelus both seem ready for the upcoming Christmas break, of course Faith will want to be getting back out and about before anyone else (she gets stir crazy quicker than anyone else in the house). 

We still have yet to put the tree up, but that's alright. We'll get it before Christmas day. :)

Our little lady appears to be ready to be potty trained. We just have one BIG problem. She's terrified of all bathrooms everywhere. That being said, wish we could figure out a trick or something. I've tried moving the potty chair out into an area she's comfortable with, but she just does her thing in front of the chair. I know I've gotten into the frustrations of it because not only is she terrified of going into bathrooms, she gets absolutely ticked off when anyone else in the house has to go into there for any reason. She appears to be having some kind of an anxiety attack when any of us are taking a bath, going to the restroom, brushing teeth....well anything, really.  BUT she is at the point she takes her diaper and pants off whenever she's wet or yucky. Tommy said the other day she even walked up to him with the wet-wipes for him to change her.  In my not-so-professional opinion I think that this SCREAMS...I'm totally ready for the potty training.

Also, just out of curiosity has anyone ever heated their home with propane and noticed that their extra sensitive family members have a hard time with it? I don't know for sure if this is it or not, but since the weather has been colder and we've turned the heater on she seems to be a lot more up-set more often than not. I can load her up and take her out of the house and she does okay for a little while at other places. Generally we'll get back home and she'll need to find a dark quiet place to hide (it's generally in the kids closet, but we made it cozy with a fluffy chair and everything in there for her).

Angelus turned 8 since the last time I updated. We had a nice birthday party here at the house, he had the three boys who he considers his 'best friends' or 'best buddies' (depending on what day you catch him--what he refers to them as), come over to help celebrate. They're great kids with some great parents. Although he did ask me if I could make two of the three his cousins (one is already his cousin), I explained to him how that would've had to work and that was definitely an impossibility.

Tommy's best friend, Kenny also made the cake and as always it looked awesome and tasted great.

Then we celebrated Thanksgiving here at the house with just us. I was pretty impressed with myself. i somehow managed to make an entire Thanksgiving meal totally gluten free. I'm getting better at it all. Not anywhere near where I need to be, but improving. I've also noticed that I tend to have less stomach issues which I've had since I was around 14yrs old...whenever I'm eating gluten free and also Angelus tends to ask for more to eat whenever I prepare gluten free stuff. We're slowly getting there. :)

Now time to get ready for Christmas, Christmas programs and just enjoying the time with my fantastic family.

'til next time.
Amy