A Case of the Mondays...

So I might as well admit it...I am in a full-fledged funk. It isn't like me. I am laidback and pretty good at finding the bright side of things in most situations, but for the past 3 weeks, I have been positively dreary.
I couldn't quite put my finger on why this started. One day, I just woke up feeling hopeless and sad. I figured it would pass, but each day just reinforced my negative mood. After about a week, I had to take a moment to sit back and analyze why my mood was so drab.
I think it is because I don't really have anything to look forward to right now. Normally, I will have vacation, or some big milestone or life plan to look forward to. But the rest of this year has very little on the horizon for me. While I can look forward to Rachel's 2nd birthday in June, and I am so very grateful for the 2 amazing years with my healthy and happy little girl, I can't say that this event has been enough to drag me out of this haze.
I don't have real vacation plans. I basically just live at work or doing work most of my day. I wake up at 5:30, I get ready and go to work (after dropping off Rachel), work till about 4:30, go pick up Rachel, go home, feed Rachel, play with Rachel for about an hour or two and relax, work until about 10 or 11, then go to bed, just to look forward to another day of the same.
The weekends? Well, I work, and I get time with Rachel, but I don't get out and do things very much. Duane has been working just as much as, if not more than, I have, so what little time we have, we are usually trying to relax and catch up on sleep.
Next weekend, I am looking forward to having a manicure/pedicure with my friends, but I really think I need to make some more time to look after myself. I am blue, and I need to adjust my attitude, because I am losing myself.
So I have been looking into various hobbies. I would really like to learn how to knit or crochet. These seem like hobbies I can pick up and put down quickly, and Rachel can't cause too much havoc with the materials (which is pretty much why scrapbooking is out of the question). I am also getting back into making my cakes, because it is birthday season. I would love to have more time to practice decorating techniques, but it can be hard to take the time needed to do this.
I am also going to take a photography class online through www.betterphoto.com. I want to learn how to take some better pictures with the high-powered camera I bought. That starts in April, so I am trying to rev myself up a bit for it.
And Duane and I have decided to move Rachel into our spare bedroom and switch the spare bedroom to the current pink room. We are also converting our front room into an office. So I am hoping that once these things get rolling, I will find my good-natured positivity again. I am enjoying looking at decorating ideas for Rachel's new room. So if anyone has suggestions, I am all ears! I want it to be girly (*GASP*), but not pepto bismol-esque. Then we will probably buy new furniture for the nursery whenever baby #2 comes along.
So I have accepted my funk, and I guess that is the first step toward recovery!

What a Difference a Year Makes!

I was looking at some old pictures of Rachel, and I came across this one from last Valentine's Day. I couldn't believe it! I hadn't noticed how much my little one has grown in the last year and how much hair she has compared to where she was a year ago.

The latest development in the Wood household is Rachel's interest in the potty. I don't think she is quite at the "potty training" stage yet, but she enjoys the concept. I bought her a second potty to keep downstairs, and she has taken a lot of enjoyment in pulling her pants down and sitting on it, then pulling her pants back up again. I also bought her some pull-ups to wear while she is home, so if by chance she does get the urge to try using the potty, she can.

It made me realize how beneficial socialization can be for little ones' development. Because I think most of Rachel's interest in using the potty stems from both watching her parents and watching the slightly older toddlers at the sitter's house. There are two 3-year-olds at the sitter's who are potty training, and the sitter has mentioned that Rachel is a little bit fascinated by watching them. It isn't the first time that I have seen Rachel take an interest in something because a child at the sitter's house has been doing it. And I wonder if she would be so far along in her development without that impact. I suppose we will never know, and there are plenty of kids who stay home with their mom or dad who probably are way ahead in developmental stages, but I am still in awe of everything that Rachel learns from watching other kids.

So it looks like we will start official potty training this summer (ideally when Rachel is wearing shorts more often, so it is easier for her to go on her own). If we can have her potty trained by December, I will be happy. I don't know what we will do with the money saved from buying diapers! But we can cross that bridge when we come to it.

Snow!

I love snow. I am one of those people. I think snow makes winter a whole lot more bearable, because it is pretty and pure and brings back tons of childhood memories for me. So whenever the weathermen are predicting the doom and gloom of a big storm, I get all excited like a 10-year-old kid hoping for a snow day.

Friday was that way for me. As others groaned while the flakes started to fall in Columbus, I smiled. My boss told us that we could leave early at our own discretion (have I mentioned how much better my new boss is compared to the last one?), so I stuck it out until 3 o'clock and then bailed to get Rachel from the sitter. Sometime around midnight, our power went out, then came back on, then went out again a bit later. But when you are asleep and warm in your bed, it doesn't bother you so much that the power went out.

Saturday morning, we awoke to what appeared to be just shy of a foot of snow. Duane started a fire, and I had a hot cup of coffee. Then I went out to shovel the driveway (after much argument from Duane because he said he would do it), and I got Rachel all bundled up in the snowsuit I bought her last year when it was on clearance for $10 (normally $65!).

I am not sure how Rachel liked the snow. She didn't have much reaction to it at all, except bewilderment. She couldn't walk in it because it was one-third of her height. At one point, she said "Brrrrrr." But overall, she dealt with it for the 15 minutes she was outside. Then I sent her back in and proceeded with shoveling the driveway. I didn't mind it, actually. I hadn't shoveled in years, and it was great exercise for me. The cold went away after 20 minutes because I was working so hard, and all the neighbors came out to shovel theirs (except the neighbor with the snowblower, but I can't complain too much because he ended up doing my half of the sidewalk), so it was pretty pleasant.

We even had a man on a frontloader come through to clear the court, and he was nice enough to clear everyone's approaches so that we could get out of our driveways!

Today, we woke up to a more frigid morning, and the snow had been covered up with a thin layer of ice. As a special treat, my mom had asked me to go to the OSU Basketball game with her. The doctor she works for was in the Bahamas for a conference (must be rough), and so he offered my mom his tickets, so she asked me. It was cool. I am not the biggest basketball fan in the world, but I enjoy going to the games whenever I am offered a chance. My competitive nature gets into just about any sport if I am at the game, so it was a good Sunday excursion. When I got back to my parents' house to pick up my car, my mom gave me my old baby doll cradle to take home. It has my name on it, and a mattress (read: long pillow) and pillow. When I brought it home, I showed Rachel what it was, and she has spent the afternoon loading her baby dolls in and out, saying "Nigh' nigh'."

Tonight, we are having a low-key Super Bowl experience. Duane made his turkey chili, and I plan to wind down the weekend watching the last of my football for the season. I don't know that I care who wins -- I guess I prefer the Saints since they haven't been there before. I like both teams though, so I won't complain either way.