Trying to finish what I started

So, can I just say that trying to go to bed earlier is making me more tired, it seems? I've been sitting here in front of the laptop for like 20 minutes with no energy to actually start typing...instead I'm watching my husband fail on the medium level of Rock Band guitar. So, ummm...I think I am at May (too lazy to check back and actually see where I left off)

May - Maybe I'm suffering from more brain cloudiness again (which I'm still blaming on the sleep deprivation) but, I really don't remember alot about May. I remember going to College Station for the last time on May 11. I remember that Jayla's last day of school for the summer was a the end of May. I remember that's the month when Jayla, Tamyra, and I went to pick strawberries. The other 28 days of May do not exist in my memory. (So, I just cheated and looked at my planner. I was right. May was fairly quiet outside of a couple of birthday parties and a garage sale and mother's day at Ragin Cajun. But, one thing that I'm disappointed that I forgot about - Motown and More Revue!! This was our 4th year in the row attending this show. We love it! Our girls love it! Last year Tamyra attended as a one-month-old baby. This year was the craziest, though, with torrential rains showing up at the beginning of the show. The four of us stuck it out, though, with huge umbrellas and lots of laughs. Just as the rain slacked off, Jayla and I had plenty of room to practice our dance moves since the less committed attendees had left when the rain got tough. The pictures below were taking before the rain came!)




June - We kicked off June with another annual event - our trip to Kemah to see the Friday night fireworks. We've been going with the same family since 2005. At the time, I was pregnant with Jayla and they were kidless. Now I have my two girls and they have two kids with one on the way. Each year that we've gone, we either have a new baby who wasn't with us the year before or one of us is pregnant. This year was the last year that we can fit in one vehicle. Their new baby is due right before fireworks next year so, we'll have to take 2 vehicles to acommodate all 9 of us!



Jayla also went to visit my parents in June. She gained 4 pounds in that 6 day trip so, my guess is that she spent alot of time eating. I've also heard stories of her having a blast at various museums and water parks and going to movies and basically having the time of her life away from her stuffy old parents. Jayla, Tamyra, and I also attended VBS at our church for a week in June. I actually had a fairly active role in photographing the kids each day to produce slide shows throughout the week. It was a really great week. Then, father's day and my husband's 33rd birthday. We celebrated at the Cheesecake Factory with my parents and other family members that happened to be in town that week for a church-related conference.



I also lost my wedding band on his birthday. And Jayla started her swimming lessons for the summer that day as well. That reminds me that both girls were also taking gymnastics throughout the month of June. We ended June (such a busy month!) with a trip to Atlanta for the 2010 Century Family Reunion! I look forward to this every year. It's like my non-negotiable trip each year. Atlanta did not disappoint. We had an awesome time visiting the city and our family (not so much of an awesome time on the Airtran flight that we took to get there but, I'm slowly getting over that).

I had intended to get through August tonight but, I'm exhausted. And I am just giddy as I reminisce about last June. I was having an absolute ball! Everything was so much fun. I need to end now, though, because I still have a few other things to do and I'm still trying to honor that early bedtime commitment. So, I'll be back later and will keep working on this series until I'm done. Good night!

1/2/11

Wow...look at me...2 blog posts in the same month! I must be on a roll or something. Actually, I've been thinking all day about the fact that if I wait another 5 months to post on my blog, people will be reading all about how I didn't do anything in 2010...which just isn't true. SO, I'm going to attempt to do a quick re-cap off the top of my head...no peaking at my 2010 planner, pictures, or anything else...just peering through my foggy memory to remember the events of 2010. Here we go...

January - We brought the new year in with our small group from church. There was Wii playing and food. I was working on my preliminary exam which is one of the major milestones on the PhD journey. My Uncle Herman passed away on 1/12/10, which was also my mom's birthday and the day of the earthquake in Haiti. I was devestated by his death and took a trip to Mississippi for his funeral in the midst of trying to complete my exam. Tamyra was not cooperative at the funeral so, I sat with my cousins while my husband walked around the church trying to soothe Tamyra. I managed to pass both the written and oral portions of my preliminary exam that month.

February - For Valentine's Day, we attempted to go to Outback Steakhouse as a family. Despite our best efforts, we managed to arrive at the restaurant at precisely the same time as 400 other people for dinner. We ended up going to Casa Ole' instead. Casa Ole' did nothing for my Outback craving and it took my until October to finally eat at Outback. For my birthday on the 23rd, the husband and I spent the day together. As usual, we started our day at IHOP enjoying National Pancake Day (even though I am high maintenance and couldn't be bothered to get the short stack that was on the special). I'm pretty sure we also went to the gym together later in the day. I do remember having dinner at BJs because I talked to a good friend that night enroute to the restaurant. Two days later Tamyra and I went to a professional conference in Knoxville where I presented a paper. My mom met us there so that she could watch Tamyra when I had to do "conference stuff". I also got to see a good friend from college and meet her husband and baby son for the first time.

March - We got a new roof on the house, which would've been exciting if it hadn't been overshadowed by another trip to the Emergency Room with Tamyra that day. She was diagnosed with pneumonia. Luckily, my parents spent Spring Break here with us so my mom spent a large portion of the week comforting Tamyra back to health. Meanwhile, my dad kept Jayla busy with trips to the park and learning to ride her new bike and I was frantically trying to write a dissertation proposal while having no real clue what I wanted to actually research. At the end of the month, we went down to the Angleton Rec Center for a pool party...the first of several trips this year and also Tamyra's first experience in the water.

April - We went on our first (for all 4 of us) camping trip with some friends from our small group at church. It was awesome. It was very nice to just get out in the middle of nature and just relax a bit. Jayla had a blast riding her bike around the campsite with her friends and learning to fish. Tamyra hung out with me mostly...doing a bunch of nothing all weekend. It was Easter weekend and we did not attend church because of the camping trip. So, a few weeks later, during a photoshoot for Tamyra's first birthday, I got some pictures taken of the girls in the beautiful Easter dresses that my Godmother sent to them. It seemed like a small price to pay for me to erase the guilt that I felt for not having them in church with those dresses on Easter Sunday! Tamyra turned a year old on the 22nd. The four of us had dinner at Panera Bread and ate a tiny birthday cake with her. We had a relatively small birthday party for Tamyra on the 24th, consisting of the families in our small group and a few of our own family members.

Four months down...eight more to go. I'll finish this trip down memory lane a little later. It's time for me to honor my goal of getting to bed before midnight!

1/1/11

It's the first day of the new year and I've spent a decent portion of the past week trying to figure out what in the world happened to my 2010. I really have been beating myself up trying to think of the notable happenings and accomplishments and I just keep coming up short. I'm concluding that my dissertation sucked up my entire 2010. That project is completely overshadowing the awesomeness of 2010 that included my friends and family (because I know I had some great times in 2010...I really, really did...).

I spent most of today just trying to decompress. I've been very stressed out for the past 3 or 4 months. So, I'm on a mission to correct that in the near future. I've got plans for 2011...big plans, even. I'm hoping to receive some revelations this year...learning more about what I'm supposed to be doing with my life now that grad school is over and hopefully reconnecting with the parts of myself and my interests that had to take a back seat in 2010. I'm actually excited about that.

But, one of the most important things that I have got to do is sleep. I've not had a regular sleep schedule in 2.5 years. And when my sleep schedule has been regular, it involved approximately 5 hours (at most) of uninterrupted sleep. And maybe the whole sleep deprivation thing is clouding my memories of 2010...hmmm...

So, I'm really hoping that 2011 will be a year of rest and revelation for me. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Exhausted

Just returned home from a trip that spanned 8 days. We drove home from St. Louis today in our quickest time since have two children...13.5 hours. I am so, so incredibly tired but, I refuse to still have "submit completed dissertation to the thesis office" on my to-do list when I ring in the new year. Since that new year will be here in just 25.5 hours, I must work...when I would so much rather sleep!

I'm so sorry, baby...

I smashed Jayla's fingers in a classroom door today when I was picking her up from school. It was really bad. I haven't seen her cry that hard in a very, very long time! I couldn't look at it because it really was that bad. Some of the teachers at her school helped us out with some ice and compression to stop the bleeding. I just hung in the background trying not to get emotional about it.

Because she is my child, on the way to the car, Jayla asked, "How am I going to eat with a hurt finger?". Those comments always make me love her more.

Anyway, I was trying to encourage her to move her fingers as I was getting the girls settled in the car. She kept telling me that she couldn't. I couldn't get her to distinguish between "can't" and "don't want to try".

So, because I was already incapable of even looking at the gruesome injury, I headed straight to a friend's house, which was about 30 seconds from the school. Luckily, they immediately took charge of the situation (because I was useless). They managed to calm down a hysterical Jayla, examine her injury to assess the damage, ice her down, and wrap the finger up after finally determining that it wasn't emergency room-worthy.

An hour later and Jayla is knocked out on the couch with her wrapped finger in a bag of ice. She's been a trooper considering the circumstances. But, she always has been...