What are the 5 things that make you most happy right now?
1. The first one is so incredibly easy! You, my baby girl, make me incredibly happy! Everything about you makes me happy. I love feeling you move, even if it happens at weird times. Your dad keeps telling me that I'm not going to feel so strongly about that when you wake me up in the middle of the night when you are kicking. I'm really looking forward to feeling you kick or punch me, as weird as that might sound. With every milestone, we get closer and closer to you being here with us so I can hold you and get to know you!
2. Speaking of your father, he makes me incredibly happy. Going through the experience of being pregnant with your father is the most amazing thing ever. He's so understanding and patient with me when I worry about things that I don't need to worry about. He lets me go on and on about whatever is on my mind and listens to everything. I wish for you, Gabriella, that you find a partner as perfect for you as your father is for me.
3. My friends and family make me happy! I have some of the best friends and family ever! One of the hardest things that I had to do as a part of this pregnancy was keep you a secret from my friends and family until we got the all clear from the doctor. I share so much with them that not being able to share such exciting news was really hard! Ever since they found out about you, they have been so incredibly excited to meet you and get to know you as you grow up. You will get to meet all of these people who love you already and can't wait to meet you and be a part of your life as you grow.
4. Yeah, I am incredibly focused on you right now so this one is also about you. Getting the house ready for you makes me happy. I love getting your room ready and adding new things as we get them makes me smile. I can't walk by your room without smiling. I like getting new clothes for you too! I'm trying to restrain myself, but it's really hard to do. I've cleaned up the whole house and made space for all of your things. You have such a big place in our hearts and now you have room in the house too! :)
5. Now on a slightly less serious note, espinaca makes me happy! I think sometimes that I pick Jose Peppers as the restaurant of choice just because I know I can have that yummy delicious queso! :) Your mom has a little bit of a cheese obsession. I love cheese and my feelings are even stronger when it is melted and served with tortilla chips! To think, I almost passed on trying it because the spinach made me question how good it would be. Thankfully I took a chance and now I can't get enough!
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Thursday, August 1, 2013
30 Things My Kid Should Know About Me: Number 4
List 10 things you would tell your 16 year-old self, if you could.
I suppose I should start off by saying that my 16 year old self wouldn't have listened to much of anything that I would have to offer as advice. I was very stubborn at that point in time and was convinced, way too often, that I knew better than anyone else. I got smarter and realized that I didn't know a whole lot, but it took time. You, my darling daughter, will likely come by your stubbornness honestly from both me and your dad. I'd like to believe that you will be smarter than me and realize that people older than you might actually have something worth value to offer, but won't be horribly surprised if you are like I was.
So now I'll offer up my advice:
1. DON'T START SMOKING!! This would be the biggest and most important piece of advice I would offer. Yes, I started smoking before it was legal, because I thought it was cool. I caved to peer influence - I don't say peer pressure because they didn't really try and get me to smoke, but many of the people I was friends with then smoked and I wanted to be like them. It was the dumbest decision I made and it was one of the hardest habits I had to break.
2. Don't let bullies make you feel bad about yourself. I didn't do a good job of standing up for myself against bullies and it gave my self-esteem a hard knock.
3. Be smart about who gets your affection. Having a boyfriend seemed like such a huge part of high school and establishing myself at a new school, but in hindsight, I spent way too much time thinking about that.
4. Spend less time wishing that your life was more filled with angst. I spent a lot of time writing really bad poetry about how rough my life was and how no one really knew who I was. I look back on them now and cringe. I was so caught up in wanting to be misunderstood that I didn't appreciate how good I had it.
5. Take home economics classes instead of so many computer classes. It would have been so much more beneficial to take classes where I learned meal planning, household budgets, and basic cooking and sewing skills then it was to take so many classes working on Apple IIe computers. I had no way to predict how useless those skills were going to be.
6. Take Spanish class. While high school Spanish is not going to make you fluent if I had taken 2 - 3 years of Spanish, you might be better able to understand Spanish, which would be beneficial in my current job. Besides, Mr. San Martin is an amazing guy and it would have been really cool to take a class from him.
7. Don't be afraid to try new things. I was involved in several things (band, choir, and athletics), but there were things that I might have enjoyed even more and was afraid to try. In college I tried debate and theatre and I really enjoyed them. I would have had a better chance getting scholarships for those activities than for athletics.
8. Drive carefully! The summer after I turned 16, I completely demolished your grandfather's truck. It was a fun little truck. I was driving too fast on a dirt road, hit a washboard section of the road and slid it sideways into a guardrail and put almost the whole thing through the truck. It was dangerous and I'm pretty lucky that I was able to walk away from it.
9. Eat breakfast...and I don't mean a bag of gummy bears. It was about this time that I developed the bad habit of not eating breakfast, which started a pattern of bad eating habits. It took me years to start eating breakfast again and realize how important it really was. I suppose this one could just be to eat healthy because high school was about the time I went off the rails on pretty much all eating habits. It didn't really hit me then because I was involved in athletics, but it caught up with me soon after I stopped being an athlete.
10. Be patient. Life gets better. Enjoy your time in high school, but know that the best is really yet to come. Some things about this time in your life are going to suck, but it's okay. The majority of your life is still ahead of you and the best years are still to come. There is some really good stuff coming!
I suppose I should start off by saying that my 16 year old self wouldn't have listened to much of anything that I would have to offer as advice. I was very stubborn at that point in time and was convinced, way too often, that I knew better than anyone else. I got smarter and realized that I didn't know a whole lot, but it took time. You, my darling daughter, will likely come by your stubbornness honestly from both me and your dad. I'd like to believe that you will be smarter than me and realize that people older than you might actually have something worth value to offer, but won't be horribly surprised if you are like I was.
So now I'll offer up my advice:
1. DON'T START SMOKING!! This would be the biggest and most important piece of advice I would offer. Yes, I started smoking before it was legal, because I thought it was cool. I caved to peer influence - I don't say peer pressure because they didn't really try and get me to smoke, but many of the people I was friends with then smoked and I wanted to be like them. It was the dumbest decision I made and it was one of the hardest habits I had to break.
2. Don't let bullies make you feel bad about yourself. I didn't do a good job of standing up for myself against bullies and it gave my self-esteem a hard knock.
3. Be smart about who gets your affection. Having a boyfriend seemed like such a huge part of high school and establishing myself at a new school, but in hindsight, I spent way too much time thinking about that.
4. Spend less time wishing that your life was more filled with angst. I spent a lot of time writing really bad poetry about how rough my life was and how no one really knew who I was. I look back on them now and cringe. I was so caught up in wanting to be misunderstood that I didn't appreciate how good I had it.
5. Take home economics classes instead of so many computer classes. It would have been so much more beneficial to take classes where I learned meal planning, household budgets, and basic cooking and sewing skills then it was to take so many classes working on Apple IIe computers. I had no way to predict how useless those skills were going to be.
6. Take Spanish class. While high school Spanish is not going to make you fluent if I had taken 2 - 3 years of Spanish, you might be better able to understand Spanish, which would be beneficial in my current job. Besides, Mr. San Martin is an amazing guy and it would have been really cool to take a class from him.
7. Don't be afraid to try new things. I was involved in several things (band, choir, and athletics), but there were things that I might have enjoyed even more and was afraid to try. In college I tried debate and theatre and I really enjoyed them. I would have had a better chance getting scholarships for those activities than for athletics.
8. Drive carefully! The summer after I turned 16, I completely demolished your grandfather's truck. It was a fun little truck. I was driving too fast on a dirt road, hit a washboard section of the road and slid it sideways into a guardrail and put almost the whole thing through the truck. It was dangerous and I'm pretty lucky that I was able to walk away from it.
9. Eat breakfast...and I don't mean a bag of gummy bears. It was about this time that I developed the bad habit of not eating breakfast, which started a pattern of bad eating habits. It took me years to start eating breakfast again and realize how important it really was. I suppose this one could just be to eat healthy because high school was about the time I went off the rails on pretty much all eating habits. It didn't really hit me then because I was involved in athletics, but it caught up with me soon after I stopped being an athlete.
10. Be patient. Life gets better. Enjoy your time in high school, but know that the best is really yet to come. Some things about this time in your life are going to suck, but it's okay. The majority of your life is still ahead of you and the best years are still to come. There is some really good stuff coming!
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