What I'm thinking about right now (Baby's napping, so how should I spend my time?):

1.  I should exercise.
2.  Need to plan vacation to Sunriver
3.  Want to make a Montessori notebook of toddler-appropriate activities to do with my daughter
4.  Potential move to a new house in the fall - need to paint, organize, purge
5.  Need groundcover for under the front maple
6.  Laundry's ready to be put in the dryer
7.  Is the chicken thawed yet?
8.  New Nicholas Sparks book on the shelf...
9.  What's everyone doing on Facebook right now?
10. Should plan friend's baby shower
11. Want to post cool links on my literacy blog
12. Planning trip to OfficeMax: printer ink, black notebook, blank book for new Bible study
13. Really want to bake cookies...should exercise and eat a piece of fruit instead
14. Happy the sun is out!

My little girl turned one recently!  It's hard to believe she has grown so quickly out of the baby stage.  She is walking, learning how to hold her own spoon, drinking exclusively from a sippy cup, and can say a few words: cooky, tick-o (tickle), bub-o (bubbles), and dadEE (imagine a french accent!).  She loves music and dances every chance she gets.  We love her to pieces!

So my days are busy, and much less "mine" than "ours."  Hence, the sparse blog posts and lag in "projects."  We spend a lot of time playing with my daughter's kitchen, reading books, and blowing bubbles.  We also try to get in weekly trips to the library for storytime, swimming at our gym, grocery shopping, and playdates with friends.  Life seems manageable as I work around her 2 naps a day and she becomes a little more independent and a lot more fun!  I waffle between thinking I'm ready for "another one" and selfishly wanting to hold onto these happy "simple" days for awhile! 

I just finished reading In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, by Michael Pollan.  It was a surprisingly quick read for me, I suppose because I enjoyed his writing style.  If you haven't heard of the book, Pollan basically argues for the return to eating "whole" foods: non-processed, straight from your garden or local farmer's market. 

I haven't joined the organic foods bandwagon, though several of my friends swear by it.  And I'm not very "green" in my lifestyle, although we've started recycling a bit more this year.  But since I do have a breast-cancer survivor in my family and I'm raising a one-year-old now, I'm becoming a little more health-conscious.  Hence, the book.

So this week when I went to the supermarket, I decided to try shopping for whole foods by spanning the perimeter of the store (produce, dairy, meats) and refraining from the aisles of packaged goods.  Believe it or not, I stayed away from the ice cream, because the stuff on sale had about 15 million ingredients in it and seemed too full of things I couldn't pronounce (I'm going to make my own out of milk, eggs, and chocolate!).  It was remarkably satisfying, and I felt healthier just walking up to the checkout stand with my cart full of good food!  AND...I saved $50 over my usual grocery bill!  (When I came home, my husband asked if we'd have enough to eat for the week!  We do!)

I'm excited for spring, as the farmer's markets will start opening back up and I can start planting some of my own herbs.  I'd like to try a few vegetables too...we'll see.  I'm not giving up completely on store-bought pasta, chips, or breads - I couldn't possibly make ALL of my own food, but I am going to try to shop a little healthier and make things when I can.  We've already grown accustomed to homemade spaghetti sauce, so there's no going back on that one.  And since I am no longer working full-time, I have the luxury of time to cook and do more of my own baking.

So for awhile, we'll try eating green!

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My daughter is switching her nap schedule again, so as we adjust I am finding less time to read!  I have, though, been able to finish a few books already this year.  You can see them on my Booklist 2009.

On my shelf waiting for me are:

Circling My Mother, by Mary Gordon
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, by Michael Pollan
The Nine: Inside the World of the Supreme Court, by Jeffrey Toobin
Without a Map: A Memoir, by Meredith Hall
The Sum of Our Days, by Isabel Allende

I got them all from the library...I'll let you know if they are any good!

I've started working on another blog: Growing Readers and Writers - resources for teaching literacy.  Basically it's my thoughts on what's going on in the teaching of reading and writing currently.  When I taught first grade, I loved teaching literacy and learned so much from my own experiences and from my colleagues.  Since I won't be back in the classroom for awhile, I thought I'd keep up my skills a bit by blogging about my experiences and providing current resources for teachers.  Eventually I think I'd like to pursue a position as a literacy coach in my children's school (I know, have the kids first, then raise them and get them in school!  :).  In the meantime, I can enjoy reading and compiling resources at my leisure, hopefully to the benefit of other teachers!

You can view my new blog at http://growingreadersandwriters.blogspot.com. 

(Don't go away - I will still be posting here about everything else!)

Baby Girl (approaching her 1st birthday):
*Can now climb up the stairs
*Top front tooth is halfway in
*Has slept straight through (11-12 hours) for the last few nights!!

Myself (forever 29):
*Finished sewing a cloth book for my daughter's 1st birthday
*Made a cute crafting/cooking smock for my niece's 2nd birthday (pattern found here)
*Read John Grisham's new book, The Associate (excellent, by the way!)

It feels good to have something to show for my time!  And crafting has been really satisfying lately, even though I'm not much of a seamstress. 

On the docket for this week:
*Mending, sewing on buttons
*Lunch with a girlfriend
*Putting laundry away and other household chores
*Cleaning off the desk

Seeing as the mending has been sitting at the sewing machine since the baby was born, that will be an accomplishment in itself if completed this week!  :)

Sometimes I think I should just stop all these "other things" and "just" be a mom.  I still don't know what that means though...sitting around and watching her play 24/7?

Here's what I have going on in my brain right now:
*Writing a book on singleness, and the lessons God taught me during that difficult wait
*Preparing for my goal of being a part-time elementary literacy coach (refining my first-grade writing curriculum, reading up on current trends in reading and writing, creating a new blog or website as a resource for teachers)
*Recording a worship CD
*Keeping up with my love of reading
*Household projects: organizing, sewing, painting, tiling the backsplash behind the stove

And then there are the daily household chores, investing in friendships, and investing more purposefully in my marriage and child (intentional time doing things together, exploring, creating memories).

The challenge right now is that nights are unpredictable (sometimes I sleep, sometimes I walk back and forth from the baby's room trying to console her) and even the simplest daily tasks take a looong time to complete because I have a toddler literally underfoot (she likes to play under my legs as I wash dishes or cook).  Even talking on the phone is difficult at times because she wants my attention to stay focused on her (or she wants to chew on the phone, hard to say!).  I've given up doing anything on the computer while she's awake for the same reasons. 

I know I need to keep reminding myself that this is just a phase and I should be grateful for her desire to be with me all the time.  There will come a day when that is no longer true, and I'll miss her tugging at my pantleg to get up. 

Right?

My daughter has been walking independently for about 3 weeks now.  She's 9 months old, and it is the cutest thing ever to see her wobbling around the house - my little Minnie Me!  But...with the walking have come more sleepless nights, 2 mouth injuries, and a cold.  I swear her brain works overtime, so that she can't settle down to sleep very long during her daytime naps and loves getting up between midnight and 3am to do some more walking practice.  I have reverted to my "sleep when the baby sleeps" mantra from her newborn stage (which means more housework piling up and less time to read, blog, etc.).  Ugh.  

The mouth injuries both happened as she was walking around the kitchen.  The first occured when she sat down hard, jamming a water bottle up into her gum, and the second was only a few days later, when she landed face first onto her pacifier (on the rug), re-opening the previous wound to her upper gums.  Both times there was a ton of blood and crying, and my heart was in my throat.  And both times she recovered quickly, the bleeding stopped, and after napping she happily jammed more toys into her mouth to chew on.  I pray that there has been no damage to her teeth, for I'm convinced that she has been trying to cut her upper teeth for several weeks as well.

And the cold came on a couple days ago, so she has a horrible cough and runny nose.  I think Corey and I are about to take part in this loveliness as well, as we've both been complaining of sore throats lately. 

It's all a bit overwhelming at the moment!

My husband and I ushered in the New Year by hosting dinner for my grandmother at our house.  We had a nice quiet dinner of flank steak, mashed potatoes, salad, and brie baked in a sourdough bread bowl.  Mmm.  Then we put the baby to bed and watched home videos from when my mom was little.

It seemed an appropriate way to end 2008, in which we introduced a new baby into the family and witnessed my grandfather going Home to be with the Lord.  Our year was filled with family birthday celebrations, vacations, and a lot of "firsts" for us with our daughter.  We are grateful to have many memories with our extended family.

Looking forward to 2009, I haven't made any resolutions.  I like this one that I came across today, though: "Celebrate Motherhood."  With so many transitions into new motherhood last year, I felt like much of the time I was in survival mode.  I'm hoping to take the time to enjoy my new role this year and not complain about the little stuff. 

Life has definitely changed over the last 9 months. My baby girl has grown from a helpless newborn to a very independent crawler. I think that one of the biggest shocks of motherhood for me was the realization that my time is not my own anymore. Though my husband helps out a ton, I am still “Mommy on-call” 24/7. The most menial, routine tasks can sometimes seem monumental when tending to a babe-in-arms or an aspiring toddler underfoot.  (I never thought I'd have trouble deciding what to do with the baby when I went to the bathroom, showered, or prepared meals!)

We borrowed a Baby Bjorn, Playmat, Sit-n-Spin, and Bouncy seat for the first 6 months. They were lifesavers in terms of giving me time to work around the house! And since we borrowed them instead of purchasing them, we saved some money and don’t have to store them currently!

I’ve heard that adding another child to the mix triples the workload. As hard as it’s been for me to figure out how to do life with one, I cannot imagine how moms juggle two or more! Props to you!