Too Much Stuff

As evidenced by my blog title, I work part time. I am lucky enough to have a position that allows me to work 24 hours per week. It's a great gig and I love my position. You would think that having kids, I would have grown a thick skin because almost every request I make of them is instantly met with the word "no". Apparently this is not so because inevitably I still come across the occasional person who in one little sentence can send my day into a downward spiral.

This instance was last week when I was on my way into the office building from the garage underneath. I was walking in with my laptop, jacket over my arm and my pocketbook. We have a key card that grants us access to the building and typically just a quick wave in front of the device will open the door. Knowing that the card was somewhere in my bag and that just a simple wave of my pocketbook in the correct place would open the door, I did a little dance and tried to open the door on the wrong side of my pocketbook apparently. I did eventually get the door to open and managed to get myself inside the building to the elevator where a man was holding the door open for me. I rushed in with all of my items over my arms, etc. and the man inside looked at me in disgust and told me I had too much stuff. If it had been said in jest or with a smile I might have come up with an equally funny retort. Instead I was left to seeth about how he didn't know what I had in my bags and why I had that stuff and thank God I wasn't nursing anymore so that there were no pumps of any sort because I would have gladly explained that to him.

Third Year

While I was on hiatus, we had another birthday here. Nicole turned three on January 9th. In typical me fashion I hadn't quite recovered from the holidays when I realized I should probably get off my duff and arrange for some celebration for her. Good thing she is young. I hope she doesn't think that I jipped her in any way. We are still in the family birthday celebration mode where no outside friends have really been invited yet to our celebrations. Last year for Aimee's birthday we did invite a few of her friends to a paint your own plaster place that was great. But she turned 4 and I think it was warranted. So any readers I have left, be sure that you remind me at Christmas time to prepare something for Nicole's 4th. At least by that time she will be in preschool and have a few friends of her own.

I can't believe that Nicole is 3. Seems like it went by all really fast. It's a good thing that most of my pictures are dated because some I think were taken last year were really taken almost 2 years ago. You would think that I would realize it but my kids are the slowest with getting their teeth and Nicole is so slim I haven't noticed any difference in her facial shape from 2-3, even in pictures. Strange for sure.

We had her 3 year check up and she tips the scales at 27 pounds and is 35-1/4 inch tall. So she is still on the small side but at least she is proportionate.

Happy Birthday little girl....just minutes old...

And then, from her actual birthday day...please note trying to still wear the holiday sweaters....

Jack of All Trades...

And master of none. The least of which is updating my blog. Bad, bad blogger....

To say that we have been busy would be an understatement. I left off back in October I believe. Since then we have hosted Thanksgiving, an open house and Christmas. Not to mention various birthday gatherings in between.

Thanksgiving was awesome. I think it's my favorite holiday of the year. As a child of course nothing compared to Christmas but now that I am older I can appreciate Thanksgiving more. No shopping besides for the meal. The house smells great all day long from Turkey cooking and overall it's just a great time of year.

Then Christmas rolls around. This year we hosted an open house here and I invited about 75 people thinking they would waltz in at all times during the day. Not so. They all stopped by probably at about 2PM. The open house went from 12-5 and everyone came smack dab in the middle. One dear friend of mine from NJ who I was maid of honor for her in her wedding surprised me and came up with her daughter who is about 8 months younger than Aimee. That was the best Christmas present I got this year. It was early but it was just so heartwarming to see her and know that she thought enough to come. I also had a lot of other people I had not seen in a long time show up to visit and overall it was a great day. I think that giving people an outlet to get together is awesome. At one point I looked around my new house and saw no less than about 50 people in my house. Some were in our living room, some gathered around the kitchen and others just mingling about the family room. We have decided to make it an annual event.

Then Christmas itself actually rolls around. We decorated for the open house so we were done early this year. It was also the year where the girls were at the best age. They got it all this year. Santa, the elf on the shelf, writing lists, getting their picture taken, etc. etc. I hope that it lasts like this for a few more years.

Now we are onto January and the new year. So again my resolution is back to what I typically do. Lose weight. It has been on my list forever, even higher up since having kids since the pounds packed on during pregnancy seem to linger still.