How's your Media Diet?
CONFESSION:
Mine? Oh well let's just say the past two days have been an epic FAIL. Last week and the first part of this week started off fabulous and I was noticing so many changes including our bedtime routine becoming so much smoother. But then crunch time came and I became a desperate mother trying to complete a task and I hired PBS to entertain my child for the past two days.
You see, last Saturday I woke up with a brilliant idea to take on the project of cleaning out our "Save it for later room." Yes, I vowed never to have one of those but it just happened. It was the extra room that everything that we didn't know where to put would live. Boxes and boxes of graduate school lectures, counseling journals, photography equipment, textbooks, Mister's comic book collection, and more filled this room only allowing for a little pathway from the door to the computer. I had seen one too many episodes of hoarders to make me begin to question and woke up with the nesting instinct to organize something. So we pulled everything out into our hallway and began. That was EASY BREEZY part...the rest was not.
It wasn't until I was nearing the end of this project and was placing something on this metal shelving in the closet when all of a sudden it came crumbling down on me! Literally the entire shelving collapsed raining stacks of paper, business cards, and craft boxes crashing down on my head. This photo doesn't do it justice because that rack was once taller than me (which is not really that hard to do) and the majority of it is now on the floor out of the frame... but at that moment I realized how ridiculous the past two days had been- it's Valentines Day and I am choosing to complete a task rather than spend time with my actual Valentine?
I once heard that it is not so much what you did but what you do after what you did that makes the difference to the relationship of your child.
So, I picked him up apologizing and trying my very best to walk away from the room and shut the door (for now). The day was nearing to an end and unlike the past valentines where we spent the day baking pizza and dessert- we went to Papa Murphy's and a local bakery and got ready for daddy to come.
I feel like the past few days I have been a preoccupied and distracted wife and it's not because I am spending my monday nights watching the Bachelor (I gave that up to watch later) but it is because I had an unrealistic expectation of completing something that took more time than I had. And may I add- little man had two emotional difficult days because of it...more about what I observed in another post.
Moving forward to the now...today is a new day. I'm up early making pancakes as a peace offering. Pancakes makes it all better right?
CONFESSION:
Mine? Oh well let's just say the past two days have been an epic FAIL. Last week and the first part of this week started off fabulous and I was noticing so many changes including our bedtime routine becoming so much smoother. But then crunch time came and I became a desperate mother trying to complete a task and I hired PBS to entertain my child for the past two days.
You see, last Saturday I woke up with a brilliant idea to take on the project of cleaning out our "Save it for later room." Yes, I vowed never to have one of those but it just happened. It was the extra room that everything that we didn't know where to put would live. Boxes and boxes of graduate school lectures, counseling journals, photography equipment, textbooks, Mister's comic book collection, and more filled this room only allowing for a little pathway from the door to the computer. I had seen one too many episodes of hoarders to make me begin to question and woke up with the nesting instinct to organize something. So we pulled everything out into our hallway and began. That was EASY BREEZY part...the rest was not.
It wasn't until I was nearing the end of this project and was placing something on this metal shelving in the closet when all of a sudden it came crumbling down on me! Literally the entire shelving collapsed raining stacks of paper, business cards, and craft boxes crashing down on my head. This photo doesn't do it justice because that rack was once taller than me (which is not really that hard to do) and the majority of it is now on the floor out of the frame... but at that moment I realized how ridiculous the past two days had been- it's Valentines Day and I am choosing to complete a task rather than spend time with my actual Valentine?
I once heard that it is not so much what you did but what you do after what you did that makes the difference to the relationship of your child.
So, I picked him up apologizing and trying my very best to walk away from the room and shut the door (for now). The day was nearing to an end and unlike the past valentines where we spent the day baking pizza and dessert- we went to Papa Murphy's and a local bakery and got ready for daddy to come.
I feel like the past few days I have been a preoccupied and distracted wife and it's not because I am spending my monday nights watching the Bachelor (I gave that up to watch later) but it is because I had an unrealistic expectation of completing something that took more time than I had. And may I add- little man had two emotional difficult days because of it...more about what I observed in another post.
Moving forward to the now...today is a new day. I'm up early making pancakes as a peace offering. Pancakes makes it all better right?
Now on to
FLASHBACK FRIDAY
I don't think I ever posted last years letter and card and since I want to compile years to come of these babies-I have to start with the first ever Valentine Letter.
Merry Valentines Day!!!
Say what? You read that right.
The Dames are no longer going to send out a Christmas card…okay they actually
never have. Why? Is it because they ran out of stamps? Is it because nothing
worth sharing has happened during they year? Are they on Christmas Card
Strike? No, really they figure
Christmas is busy enough. To add on scheduling a photo shoot for their pictures
in matching reindeer sweaters, just really didn’t leave much time left for
fruitcake making and caroling. Plus you already get a ton of cards over
Christmas. They don’t want to be just another card in a sea of many. Ask
yourself how many Valentine’s cards you get? We’re guessing unless you’re a
teacher you may get one or two (Lets hope the 2nd card is from a grandchild
or you’re gonna be in trouble with your significant other). So let us help you
up your Valentine’s Card Quota starting this year.
2011 has been a pretty
exciting year for the Dames. They kicked off the New Year in New York with
Cristi’s Sister and our brother in law Joe. They were very gracious hosts and
put up with a baby waking up in the middle of the night and even gave us their
bed in their Bronx apt. We kicked off the New Year in Times Square while
standing shoulder to shoulder with a couple 100 thousand of our closest friends
for 8 hours. Bucket list item checked off. Will we do it again? Probably not.
In January Brooks launched a
“garage based” business that soon became a “home and garage” based business. He
started Proof Wood Sunglasses and launched the website www.iwantproof.com January 31st. Proof sold 6
pair in the first 24 hours. Now with the help of Brooks’ younger brothers
Tanner and Taylor Proof is thriving and selling a couple 100 pairs a month.
Friends and family get a discount if you’re interested in getting a pair. (Just
in case you’re wondering if you are reading this you fall into the friends and
family category)
Cristi continued to wear many
hats starting this year out running her own counseling business in a new space
near downtown Boise, shooting photography when she could fit it in, working as a counselor one day a week
at St. Lukes/Elks Children’s Rehab in their pediatrics department, and last but
not least being a pretty rad mom to Little Man. Her counseling ways often show through
in her conversations with Little Man and the rubber really meets the road when Mama
Cristi starts dropping her counseling skills on Little Man and Brooks at home. The
two of them just sit back in awe and let her do her thing.
Little Man is doing pretty dang good and had his first birthday last February
with lots of cake. He’s a cute kid that always keeps us smiling with his cute
mannerisms and sayings. He’s fond of saying “Oh Boy” and is very well mannered.
In addition to saying “Thank you Mommy” to pretty much everyone (not just his
mommy) after you give him something or help him, he also picked up the habit of cleaning up after himself
with Clorox wipes. (We are a little worried he may have OCD, or it may be that
we really are so boring as parents that he’d rather clean than play toys). He
does really likes Mickey Mouse, trains, cars, boats, and planes and points them
out to us when he sees them. He also discovered the joys of drinking eggnog
this holiday season. He started requesting that sweet nectar 24-7, and after
stocking up on the last inventory of eggnog from the store and freezing it..
Cristi was able to single handedly wean him from his eggnog addiction. Brooks
on the other hand is still an addict and there is a freezer full of frozen
eggnog. Brooks would like you to know that this year the 4th of July
is going to be even awesomer with chilled eggnog to go with the burgers and
dogs.
In May Brooks made a career
change and moved from Sales at Woodgrain into HR.
He has liked the change of
roles and instead of Selling wood products he’s now focused on Health care
plans, safety, retention, 401k plans, incentive plans, and fun things like
that. If you want to have a long conversation about Health Care reform give him
a call he’d love to give you his $0.10 on it.
The summer held a lot of fun
events for the family full of family reunions, road trips, and some new
roomies- Tanner and Darlene. However, the most memorable trip of the summer was
going to El Salvador to visit Cristi’s family and attend the LDS Temple
Dedication. It was a really special experience to be there with Cristi’s
family. Some of which are pioneers for the Church in El Salvador and count as
some of the first members in the country. Since Cristi’s family is from El Salvador
and Brooks served his mission down there, they ran into a lot of old friends,
some mission presidents, an ex roommate and family that had showed up for the dedication. But they
made sure to spend plenty of time on the beach. Brooks and his Brother in Law
Joe went surfing and soon realized that just because a wave is big and you have
a surfboard doesn’t make you a surfer. But besides almost getting smashed onto
some rocks it was the best surf trip ever. Little Man ate and loved his first Pupusa
and drank his first Kolashampan (a proud moment for any Guanaco) and got to
meet a lot of his relatives he hadn’t met yet. The El Salvador trip was both
spiritual and fun for our family and won’t soon be forgotten.
Cristi decided she didn’t have
enough to do and started not one but 2 blogs! www.weedstowishes.com a blog that draws on her
counseling and motherhood experience and www.trulymodlydeeply.com a style blog with her friend
and hair stylist Camilla Orosco. As if that wasn’t enough blogging for one
person she now contributes regularly to www.howdoesshe.com (it’s is a cool website for
women with tips on how to do and make stuff) on fashion and parenting ideas.
Little Man got to stamp his
passport for the second time this year because the entire Dame family went to
Mexico for Thanksgiving. They spent most of the time just relaxing and enjoying
great food and good conversation. The men folk went fishing with their matching
marlin tank tops while the women folk went to the spa. Although the marlins
wouldn’t stay on the line, they caught plenty of Dorado to keep them busy.
Later, they took their annual Evelyn Dame coordinated clothing Christmas card
photo on the beach and celebrated their niece McCall’s birthday. It was an
amazing trip.
Cristi kicked off the
Christmas spirit by co-hosting a Christmas benefit concert with her friend
Makita for Rett Syndrome. They were thrilled and honored to have Mindy Gledhill
perform that night. Together with countless hours of volunteers from loved ones
they were able to fundraise around $18,000 and still counting to go towards the
International Rett Syndrome Foundation in effort to learn more about and
hopefully one day find a cure. It was a successful and magical night that won’t
ever be forgotten.
Later, Christmas was spent in
Salt Lake with Cristi’s family and not a lot of snow. Boo. However, Little Man did figure out how to climb out
of the crib and things haven’t been the same since. He’s a big fan of showing
up at our bedside at all hours of the night now. It’s awesome.
What did we do for New Years?
Well, you will just have to wait for next year’s Valentine’s Day to find out.
We send you all the love we
can muster on this Valentine’s Day. Hope you have a great Valentine’s Day
filled with happiness, love and maybe some of those candy hearts with messages
on them that taste like chalk.
besitos,
xo
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