Resolution Update

1. Get Maggie in her own bed more often: I think I've kind of said, "aw screw it" on this one. Maggie is only little for so long and she won't want to sleep with us or ask to snuggle forever.
2. Find a new church home: Kind of on hold. Rocky had to work a few hours last weekend, so we didn't go. I think there are a few other churches I want to check out again before deciding on one.
3. Lose weight: I've been very good about getting on the Wii Fit at least every other night. My work out days are Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday, but last weekend I was also able to get in a workout on Sunday. Maggie "helped" me do the hula hoop and run. Maggie likes to hula hoop, but needs my help to get her little hips going, so she thought she should help me as well. As for running, well, she just ran around me in a circle while I ran in place. There are 3 women at work who also use the Wii Fit to work out, so we are able to talk about our progress and see who has opened up what games. I'm really getting into the aerobic boxing. However, I wish there was a way to turn off the hints, especially in yoga and strength. The trainers are helpful, but they can get repetitious. And I don't like being chastised for skipping a day (Too busy to work out yesterday, eh, Wendy?)
4. Eat healthier: I'm trying!
5. Eating at the table: There are very few nights that we do not eat at the table. Maggie loves to pray (Bwess us oh Lawd!) and Rocky has her asking to be excused: "I'm all done. Pease! I'm cused!" I'm also now in the habit of cleaning the kitchen -- at least getting the dishes in the dishwasher -- right after supper. This is a HUGE step for me :)
6. Turn the TV off night: Maybe when it's warmer and we can go outside . . . Though, last weekend, Maggie was in her room and when I walked by she hollered out at me "Mommy, want to play a game with me?" and we played the Brown Bear game on her bed.

January in Montana

Today, it is 3 degrees. Ah, winter in Montana. Last weekend it was 60. We had some people over to watch the football games and Rocky & the men sat out in the garage with the door open, enjoying cigars. Maggie and I went to the zoo on Monday (daycare was closed for Martin Luther King Jr Day) and played in the garage with her trike. One of the nice things about living in Montana is the weather -- mild and dry. We do see the extreme temps (bitter cold, sweltering heat), but not in the same manner as Virginia, Michigan or even South Dakota where humidity has some say in weather conditions.

So, in a small effort to not get into a winter funk (it's actually cloudy today -- typically even on the cold days, it's sunny here), I'm posting some pictures from last Monday:

Potty Training Woes

After the week at home with Maggie over Thanksgiving, she has done very well on her own. She rarely has accidents at daycare and has even woken up once or twice in the night and told me she needed to use the potty. Except for poopies. Almost every day, Maggie will come home with soiled underpants and will tell me that she "pooped in her pannies." So last night, when she came home in the same panties she went to daycare in, I asked her about it "Did you poop in the potty today?" She told me that "Big girls poop on the potty!" And I replied "And you're a big girl who poops on the potty at daycare, right?" Maggie: "No, I don't poop on the potty at daycare!" Guess we still have some work to do.

Inauguration Thoughts

Yesterday was really a historic day and I tried to watch as much of it as I could. A few thoughts:

1. I understand it's in the constitution, but is it really necessary to continue having inauguration on January 20, regardless of what day of the week it falls on? Obviously, this year, people were willing to take the time off work to hit Washington DC and at the hospital, there were lots of people gathered around what TVs could be found. But I ended up missing Obama's oath and was forced to try to watch his speech with the streaming video on my laptop computer -- which was haphazard at best. It was like the speech was coming to me through a bad cell phone connection. It did get me thinking though: was this the first inauguration that people have been able to watch via streaming video online? Or maybe it was just the first that people actually wanted to watch. I don't know that it was really around in 2001 and if it was around in 2005, did anyone care to watch it that way? Anyway, it would be nice if the inauguration ceremonies were changed to the weekend to allow more people to at least view them on TV. The last inauguration I watched was Clinton's first, and that was really just because I wanted to hear Maya Angelou.
2. My daughter will never know life before a black president. That's a little amazing to me. To her, it will just be how things are. Perhaps, she may also never know life before a female president, but maybe not if Obama gets 2 terms. The first president I remember is Carter and the 1980 election. I would have been 8 years old and we thought we were so grown up talking about the election and the hostages.
3. Totally superficial, but Michelle Obama looked lovely. I loved her dress last night. And the girls were adorable as well, though I haven't seen what they wore to the balls (if they got to go). I feel for the girls and hope the Obamas are able to keep them out of the spotlight as much as possible (much like the Clintons did with Chelsea -- whom Maggie got to meet while they campaigned in Montana last summer. Chelsea visited Maggie's daycare).

It was an important day in our history and I'm happy to live in a time that I am able to be a witness to it from the other side of the country, even while sitting at my desk.

Cookies!!

Maggie and I baked cookies today. I think they turned out pretty good, though they are crispier than we like (I wasn't paying attention and, well, forgot them. I did set a timer, but didn't hear it right away). Maggie had fun helping.

And tasting. As Maggie would say "It's really taste!"

Great Works of Art

Maggie has been in day care since she was 8 weeks old and she has been making art since about that time. Well, maybe not that early, but I know when she was a few months old, the care givers as VCU Child Care put those little baby feet into paint to make art for the wall and we took her to a pottery place and put her little baby feet onto mugs for the grandparents. Most of it has come home. And I think I've kept about 50% of it. Of course, that doesn't include all the pieces of art she has created at home, though I've probably kept fewer of those. Most of the pieces are in a box in the crawl space. I have 3 pieces in my office, 2 finger paintings hanging on the inside of cupboards and a few that I kept out with the intention of possibly framing. If I learned nothing else from my first job in Grand Rapids (and I probably didn't), I learned that your child's drawings should be considered priceless pieces of art and hung on the wall. Okay, not ALL of them are worthy of framing, but there are a few. I do hope that Maggie continues to enjoy art and maybe even comes to appreciate art that wasn't created by her. In the meantime, her "board" will help her create many many beautiful works!