Am I There, Yet?

Last weekend we took the kids to their Mixed Martial Arts tournament.  This was the 2nd time they competed in this tournament and they did great.  Lilly won 3rd place in kickboxing and 2nd place in grappling.  No other girl placed higher than her in her groups…so she’s the #1 girl (in my book!)  :)  She’s so driven…she’s already talking about the next tournament and how she’s bringing home the 1st place trophy.

Titus didn’t bring home a trophy, but he tried his hardest.  I’m very proud of him for not letting his loss discourage him and for being proud of his sister.  He was her biggest fan.  He was promoted last week from a yellow belt to a green belt.  The promotion gave him a much needed morale boost.  He’d been talking about quitting MMA for about a month now.  I don’t want to be a parent who pushes, but I encouraged him to continue with the tournament training and compete in the tournament and then we’ll talk about doing something else besides MMA.  He agreed, but now that he recieved this promotion he’s found a new love for MMA.  He’s now asking to go to classes again. 

Lydia’s doing great.  She, Titus and I have been sick this past month…fighting all kinds of garbage and sharing it around.  Ugh!  Anyways…she’s not a complainer.  She’s been in high spirits.  One time I didn’t even realize she had a fever because she was smiling and acting as if nothing was wrong.  I hate how fast she’s growing up.  I see newborns and can’t fathom that Lydia was that tiny only 7 months ago.  She’s a big girl, too…off the percentile charts.  She’s outgrowing her size 12-months clothes.  Crazy. 

Merry Christmas!!!

I was playing a video game where they give out grades for performance.  They don’t give out “F”s but they do give out “E”s.  I got an “E”.  Lilly was pointing my failure out and Titus said, “Do you know what “E” stands for?”  I thought he was going to say “Rated ’E’ for Everyone” because we hear that on video game commercials.  I asked, “What is it ‘E’ for?”  He said “’E’ is for That’s Awkward!”

I’m pretty upset with myself right now.  Ugh!

 

I ordered 100 Christmas cards with an adorable picture of the kids…plus a couple other personalized photo items as gifts for the grandparents.  I ordered them on Black Friday thinking they’d easily get here on time.  I’ve been wondering where they are and just assumed they were coming.  I didn’t bother checking on them.  Well…this morning I started panicking.  If I don’t get them out in the mail soon then they won’t get to friends and family on time.

 

I went over to the website that I ordered them from and noticed they were shipped to the wrong address.  I changed the billing address and could’ve sworn I also changed the shipping address.  I guess I didn’t because they were shipped to our old house via UPS.  They were dropped off over a week ago at an empty house. 

 

My wonderful husband (who is so good at trying his hardest to rescue me in times of distress) drove over to the other house (a ½ hour drive) to look for them.  I’m stressing out at this point.  If they happen to still be there…they’re probably ruined from the bad weather we had last week.  Well…the package wasn’t there. 

 

Now what?

We caught Lydia testing out some new skills a few days ago.  Check it out:

Her trick doesn’t seem so new anymore…once she figured out how to do it…it seems that every time I turn around she’s standing up. We think she’s pretty cute.

“Write on your blog so you have memories recorded.”

 

I just read those words of advice and figured I needed to catch up over here.  It’s easy to slack off.  I can find every excuse in the book.  “I really need to __________ first before I can blog.”  “Nobody reads it anyways.”  “I can’t put all my thoughts into words right now.”

 

However, the advice is good.  It’s true.  I like to look back on my blog and see where I was a year ago (pregnant)…two years ago (just moved to NJ)…three years ago (uncertain of our future).  I can’t believe that February marks my 4 year blogiversary.

 

So, what’s been going on here?  We’re gearing up for Christmas…had a wonderful Thanksgiving. 
Lydia is crawling all over the place and cute as can be.  Lilly and Titus are both doing great in school and karate.  They have a karate tournament coming up this weekend and both REALLY want to bring home a trophy or two.  Titus has had a few bumps in the road at school.  Some kids have been picking on him.  He told me that kids were making fun of him for a couple of things.  One day he sat on the bench during recess because some of his classmates told him he couldn’t play with them.  Another kid called him “stupid” on the bus.  (That kid later apologized.)  That’s been hard to watch.  But, he still likes his school and doesn’t complain about having to go. 

 

I started karate a couple weeks ago.  This is the first time I’ve been back since finding out I was pregnant over a year ago.  It feels great to be working out again and I’ve gotta get rid of my white belt because the kids keep teasing me about it.  LOL!  It’s good for me to get out and do that a couple nights a week…it’s the only “me” time I get.  Since I work 7 days a week as a “stay-at-home-mom” I don’t get much “me” time. 

 

Speaking of “me” time…I took a mom-cation last weekend.  It was only for a few hours, but I was able to get away for awhile.  I decided to go to NYC and take in the Christmas sights and do some shopping.  Well…I made the mistake of spending the day in mid-town…knowing full well that the tourists mostly hang out there.  It was insanely crowded…lines of people waiting to get inside stores.  If I was serious about getting some shopping done I should’ve gone elsewhere.  No shopping was accomplished.  But, I did get to see a lot of the NYC Christmas sights.  I walked from Macy’s (on 34^th) up 5th Ave and over to Bloomingdales and Barneys (on 61^st).  You can see some of the sights I saw on my photoblog:  http://fuzzyshot.com/jerseygirl .  Those are all taken from my phone so you can also map the pictures.  The window displays were fun to look at.  It was fun to get away.

 

Anyways…that’s what’s up in my neck of the woods.

 

I’d love to receive comments…just so I can throw the “nobody reads anyways” excuse out the window.  J