Jumping Daisy

>Self Talk

Posted on November 2, 2010 by tricialc

Leila started out the night with no interest in going up to a strangers door and asking for candy. My Dad and I followed behind while Cory and Andrea led the kids up to the first driveway. I assured Leila that she had met the people who lived in this house, and there was no reason to be scared. I guess the allure of candy, and the reassurance that she would not be confronted with a total stranger was enough to give her the boost she needed to head up to the front door. She returned to the sidewalk with renewed confidence, and we were off!

As I walked down the street with Leila she was chanting happily, “I’m not scared! This doesn’t scare me! I’m not scared! This doesn’t scare me!”
I thought to myself of all of the mornings of late when I have woken up to an anxious feeling in my stomach and a lump in my throat. I repeat to myself, “I’m not sick, today will be a good day. There is nothing to be worried about.”
I have to appreciate that at the ripe old age of four years old, my little Leila has already discovered the art of self-talk. My first line of defense against the butterflies that have taken up permanent residency in my stomach…or maybe its in my mind, either way, I just have to hope that Leila’s defense doesn’t have to spend as much time on the field as mine does these days.

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>Block

Posted on October 22, 2010 by tricialc

>I was in a leadership training session all day today (yawn) and the icebreaker question that the instructor asked was, “If you weren’t working here, what would your ideal job be?”
This is always such a depressing thing for me to think about, because honestly, I don’t think I am skilled at anything that I would *really* want to do as my ideal job.

Today I answered that I would be a professional blogger. Now I can’t think of anything professional blogger worthy to say. Sorry.

Posted in Tricia's Thoughts | 1 Comment

>Mabel

Posted on October 22, 2010 by tricialc

>I am a lucky aunt for sure. I have been for about 2 and a half years now, and I just got a little luckier. I now have another beautiful niece, one who reminds me an awful lot of my little Leila when she was a baby.

I have to say that it is a little bitter sweet to know that that sweet little angel is hours away, but just looking at the pictures hurts because she is so stinking cute. I am amazed to think of my baby brother as a DADDY, but with the examples he has had in his life, I am sure he will be great. As close as the Howard family is, it feels so strange to have pieces of us far away, and going through such huge life milestones without us to support them. I hope and pray that Clay, Rebekah and Mabel know, the words of a cheesy novelty T-shirt I once saw in a drugstore in Tabor, “Someone in Iowa Loves You.”

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>My project

Posted on October 17, 2010 by tricialc

>To mark the milestone of my 30th birthday I have started another blog. Don’t worry, I am not walking away from Welcome to Motherhood! 😉 I am adding a 365 blog. If it isn’t something you are familiar with, basically, you post one picture from everyday of the year. As a full time working mom, I can’t say that I will actually make that goal, but I am going to try. I won’t be updating everyday, as that is basically impossible for me, but I expect to update at least once a week with a picture for each day. If you are interested, here is the link: http://mythirtyfirst.blogspot.com/

Posted in Tricia's Thoughts | 1 Comment

Posted on September 28, 2010 by tricialc

Three weeks ago was the last time we nursed…she is finally weaned! And she is beautiful!

Posted in Milestone, Motherhood, Thea | 2 Comments

>neurosis overload

Posted on September 28, 2010 by tricialc

>The old saying, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all” is plaguing me. In typical fashion I have gotten myself really worked up, tried to get my mind in order and am now finally at the breaking point where I spew out all of my anxieties while attempting to infuse my post with humor so maybe it won’t sound so pathetic to my two or three readers that bother to muddle through the stream of conscientiousness and run on sentences. The countdown is on. Three weeks until we can move into our new house. One week until I am a full time employee again, and our girls are full time daycare kids. Three weeks since I found myself in a constant state of stress that makes my stomach ache, my heart race, and my whole being a little bit terrified to leave this crappy apartment. I am “need a nap” tired about 90% of the time, and the only reasonable excuse I can come up with is that it takes a lot of energy to worry 24 hours a day. Yes, I know this isn’t normal.

You would think I was prepping for a moon launch, or the dread equivalent of that little boy in that Disney commercial, “I’m too excited to sleep!”

“I’m too nervous to function!”

Posted in Tricia's Thoughts | 1 Comment

>More house updates!!

Posted on September 26, 2010 by tricialc

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Posted on September 18, 2010 by tricialc

>I have been really bad about taking pictures lately, I just never think to grab the camera, and most of the time I know that if I did take a picture, it would have piles of toys, dirty dishes and laundry in the background so I wouldn’t share it anyway.

So, for now, all I have to offer is updated house pictures. Things are moving along and we got to spend last weekend painting. Cory and I painted three of the four bedrooms upstairs so that we could take advantage of the lack of trim to tape around and carpet to ruin.

When we stopped by there the last couple of days we have seen the trim starting to go up, and the tile floors starting to go down in the bathrooms and laundry room.

This is the master bedroom

Thea’s room

Leila’s room

And the front…which already looks different. The rail is now complete and the garage is being prepped for the stone. I am thinking stone will be applied this weekend or early next week? We have a schedule but it doesn’t seem too accurate since it says the stone was to be done on the 8th.

Posted in House | 2 Comments

>Magazine recommendation

Posted on September 9, 2010 by tricialc

>While sitting in the hospital with Cory I had a change to actually READ for pleasure! The hospital book store didn’t have a huge selection, but this one was a gem. It wasn’t too heavily focused on health or fitness, but was more about healthy living in general, for real people. I enjoyed it a lot and I can see myself picking up more issues in the future!

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>The calm before the storm…

Posted on September 9, 2010 by tricialc

Before our weekend ended with a 48 hour hospital stay, we spent an afternoon at the apple orchard. We were actually at the orchard, waiting in line to pay for our treats when Cory told me that his heart had gone into the erratic rhythm. It wasn’t a new experience for us, so we sat down and ate our apple treats before heading home to see if it would take care of itself. I told Cory he could have an hour to lay down, relax and see what happens, if things were still not right we would be going to the ER. He didn’t argue with me and after his rest at home, we called in the troops (Our wonderful families that helped us out with our girls).

Anyway, back to the calm, which wasn’t actually all that calm. The orchard was busy and there were lines for everything, but we still had a great time. We picked apples, took a little ride on a tractor trailer and enjoyed warm turnovers. I had been having a rough weekend, and I am so glad that we did this fun family activity before everything went down with Cory’s heart. As hectic as it was to deal with keeping the kids under control and the fighting the crowds, it was just the boost I needed to get through.