Sorry I've been so lazy

About updating my blog, though I'm not sure how many people actually read this!

The holidays were very mellow and very enjoyable. Christmas was awesome with Courtney. She really got into the whole Santa thing and got WAY too spoiled with presents. I have to completely reorganize the house to figure out where to put everything. She didn't act spoiled, though, which makes me very happy. She very patiently opened each gift, put the wrapping paper in the garbage bag, and lines up the presents very neatly in front of the fireplace. How many 2-year olds behave like that at Xmas? I haven't decided if this is a good or bad thing yet. She's pretty uptight and things have to be just perfect or she has a bit of a meltdown. Everything has to be stacked neatly, lined up, none of her food can touch on her plate. But it makes for a pretty tidy house!

I have to say I really enjoyed staying at home with her for my 10 day "vacation". I got into the whole stay at home mom thing. I cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner, all healthy snacks and meals. I took her on excursions. We went out to dinner together, we went shopping. It was like she was my little buddy. This time with her is why I had a baby in the first place. I thought I'd be ready to go back to work from being burnt out, but I cried the whole drive in on that first day back. I don't know if I could do it full-time forever, but I treasure those days when I can devote all my time and energy to my little angel.

I was going to tackle the potty-training thing during this time off, but this gained no traction whatsoever. I took her to Target to pick out some big girl panties thinking this would be a good way to kickstart the process. Thirty dollars later...no dice! She had to get all these boy underwear, like Cars and Wiggles, as well as girly Dora the Explorer, Little Mermaid and Curious George panties. For a couple of days, I had to put them on over her diapers. She also likes to play with them and organize them into neat little piles, but other than that, they don't seem to interest her very much. Money well spent. I did get some Pull-up diapers and she was into pulling them up and down for a couple of days, but she's over that also. I know I'm supposed to be waiting for these elusive "potty training cues" before I try to get the ball rolling, but I'm thinking about taking a more heavy-handed approach. I don't understand how a child as brilliant as Court can be so behind in things like these. I had the same problem with the bottle-weaning issue. Oh well. We'll see what happens.

New Years was a big whopping dud. We didn't even make it to midnight. I did absolutely no reflecting and made no resolutions. I just want to be the best wife and mother I can every day. I have learned this past year, that it's important to put equal energy into both endeavors. As much as I love my daughter and want to make her the center of my universe, I love my husband just as much. It's a different kind of love, of course, but not any less important. I think the foundation of a good family life is a good marriage and I'm committed to that wholeheartedly. Having this child put a tremendous strain on things that first year from all the first-time parent stress that arises from not knowing what the heck you're doing, but things are great now. I want to keep it that way. A lot of my friends ignore their husbands and completely lose their sense of self and individuality when they have children. I made a promise to myself I wouldn't do that and I've done pretty well so far. I still have my yoga classes, dinners with girlfriends, date nights with my husband, drinks with work colleagues, and it makes me a well-rounded person, and not any less of a mother. I want to be a good role model for my daughter and show her that you can have everything if you want it bad enough. Oh look at that...I'm reflecting. Enough of that!

I will post holiday pics next time of my little anal retentive girl!

Cheers