Model Momma?

I can't stop a wandering mind, and mine wanders all the time. Especially when I am doing any form of exercise.

I was walking in the park this time.

I have lunch duty in a 3rd grade class every day. Basically I watch them eat, get them moving for recess and corral them back in. There is a student, Ben*, who every day gets his lunch hand delivered by Mom. She then sits with him and they chat in their language. 50% of the time he will choose to stay indoors and finish lunch with her. The other half of the time he goes outside with the other kids. Ben is a funny kid, in an off-beat way, but exhibits socially awkward tendencies. I can't help but think it might stem from being coddled. It got me thinking...


What kind of mom do I want to be? And what kind of boy do I want Harrison to be?

The more I thought on these questions the more I realized I seem to only think in terms of the negative. What I don't want to be, and what I don't want Harrison to be.

I don't want to be that mom that feels the need to supervise him constantly. Or the mom who lets him do whatever. Or feeds him whatever. Or pushes him to hard to do whatever. Or lets him give up on whatever.

But what do I want to be for Harrison?

Details

This week has been a busy one. Here is a brief time table, because you're interested in the minutia of my day...right?

5:30a Wake Up Call! (things to be done before 6:20 departure time is: bottle yesterday's milk into 3 bottles, transfer sleeping? Bear into car seat, put bagel into toaster, pour the dregs of coffee into a clean? travel mug, brush teeth/hair, wash face, butter toasted bagel, bag whatever I can grab for 2 lunches and get into the car

6:20-6:40 drive to Jon's work
6:40-7 drive to Baby's work (things to do before 7:15; transfer Bear to changing table, clean diaper and change clothes, label 3 bottles, put into fridge, cuddle the Bear and play with him to ensure a clean transfer to Ms. Jessica)
7:15-7:25 drive the short but busy distance to my school (things to be done in the 5 minutes remining before I should be inside- apply makeup, repack my bag, change my footwear)
7:30-3/4p Work
3:20/4:20 pick up Bear, play with him and his friends for 15 minutes
4-6 Options, options; Harrison sleeps for 40 minutes of this time, I like to get a coffee. We either hit the mall with the stroller, go for a walk outsidew if not so much snow, hang out in Schuler's Bookstore, or lounge in the parking lot of Jon's work
6:15/7 Jon gets out! We all drive home
7:30 Good night Bear :)
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Repeat

Where Will I be on Nov 6th, 2011?

Welllllllllllllll, I hope the answer to that question is New York City!

Pat me on the back, I have FINALLY taken that scary, iffy and exciting step of throwing my name (along with 11$ in processing fees) into the ING NYC Marathon Lottery.

I said I would do it last year, and you know what happened? I never did. Let this year be a year of DOing. So cross your fingers for me! Preferablly keep them that way until mid April when the drawing happens.

Back up plan is to run the Grand Rapids Marathon around the same time frame. Or possibly Detroit (the only marathon to include 2 countries!).

Whew! I feel fitter already :)

Project 365- January edition

Day 1: Happy birthday to me! 

Day 2: Got my eyebrows done- gotta remind myself to keep up on them!

Day 3: Birthday surprises from California! Thanks Kellie :) 

Day 4: Jon came home to us after a business trip to San Antonio.

Day 5: Harrison has a fascination with the two cats, especially the orange one whom he refers to as 'Ta'. 

Day 6: Sickness has overcome the little Randall family. I am the only one at 95%, here's hoping for a recuperating weekend.

Day 7: I entered the NYC lottery for the marathon! 

Day 8: Bears on Skis! I head out for a chilly but sunny ski trip.

 Day 9: Tea and crackers before bedtime :)

 Day 12: Harrison and I in the "Russian" classroom for World Party. All the classrooms decorated and served different foods for a party night. I was a judge!

 Day 13: Fashion Show at school, part of World Party Week. I let one of our Mexican girls wear Abuelita's dress from Puebla (on the right).

 Day 14: A busy morning complete with a trip to the library where Harrison loaded up on books. 

 Day 15: Practicing his lunges, the Bear plays on the floor :) Check out those 4 teeth of his! 

 Day 16: 1/31/11 Happy Birthday little Bridget Grace Thomas :)

What a way to end a month!

27 Things to Do While 27

Happy Birthday to me! 27 years old. There is something refreshing about January birthdays. If you didn't quite get off to a great new year's start you can use your birthday to begin again fresh. And that is always a good feeling for me :)

So here it is, my new and improved:

27 Things to Do While 27! 

• be in my sister's wedding 10/8 Ann Arbor, MI No baby H or Jon due to sickness :(
• complete my first marathon
• pay off 1 credit card
• travel to a new destination Traverse City 7/10
• throw an awesome 1 year bday party for the baby Both sets of grandparents and our friends including Bridget come over to the house
• babysit for a friend Bridget T on a Wednesday afternoon in December
• go on our first family vacation cancelled due to H having the croup 
• visit NYC
• take a Spanish language course
• fix/finalize my Michigan teaching certificate
• audition for a local play
• move to a nice apartment We move to our first house in April!
• participate in a team sport:coaching soccer at RP 6-8th grade
• volunteer regularly
• friend vacation
• camping trip 7/9- 7/10 Sleeping Bear Dunes!
• be involved with something musical
• be involved with something artistic
• get Harrison baptized
• read two classic books I have never read before: Mansfield Park 9/1/11
• complain less Jon verified this on 1/15/12, I did in fact curb this behavior from last year :)
• alter my work schedule to more evenly accomodate the baby
• make a new girlfriend
• open Baby a savings account
• Project 365, picture/caption daily  
• Do an improvement on the house painted the dining room red curtesy of Katie, October
• try something new Jan 7, Ivenger Yoga @Cherry Street Yoga, interesting but quite slow

There it is! I am missing 2 things. Any thoughts on what to do this year?
Oh, and if you're wondering how I did on my 26 Things to Do While 26 , I finished 12 of them. Let's hope I can do better this year!

A Very Happy Non-Birthday

One day left to finish up my to do list...and I am not optimistic. Well, I did accomplish some of the more major things :)

Tonight I'm having a girls night with the ladies. Lots of food and chic flicks I think. Considering one of us is 8 and a half months pregnant we'll likely stay in for the duration :) I am SO excited to see the new baby girl. I think Harrison will be a great playmate. He has made a few buddies at his school. One girl, Alexandra, in particular seems smitten with him. She's always trying to climb into his car seat as we get ready to leave. I never imagined I'd be one of those parents to mock set up a little "girlfriend" but I must admit it is really cute when they sit together and play with their toys. His other buddy Ezra is a funny character too, army crawling all over the place. Harrison likes to roll, rock back and forth on his bum and tummy scoots backwards. He also pulls up well and likes standing and jumping. In other "firsts" the Bear fed himself a puff yesterday. It's kind of a scary thing to feed a baby solid things. Each time I see it move further back on his tongue I anticipate his red faced cough. 

So tomorrow I turn 27. But for today I'll try to enjoy whats left of my youth :) 

Let it Snow!

Harrison got this sweet sled for Christmas and today would have been a perfect day to use it! Sadly we didn't get home to close to 6 at which point dinnering and winding down took precedent over venturing outdoors.

Back to work for all of us. Me at the school, Jon at the job and Harrison at his daycare. He was all smiles when I greeted him at 3. We play a little before packing up and heading out. It's funny to watch the other babies watch us. So many little baby faces!

I have noticed a new Harrison first- he has been passing toys from one hand to the other for a couple weeks now. It's almost like he's performing a magic trick. He also loves saying Daddy and Da da....to everything! His sleep habits have become kinder lately as well. He goes down by 7:30 after a story from Daddy and songs from me. He'll stay sleeping til 4 or 5. Awesome. Then a little snack and back to bed til 7ish. It has been really a nice trend.

He just keeps on changing!

A New Year

Happy 2011! I have a strong suspicion this will be a good year. It started off on a fun note. Grandma and Abuelito Matteson volunteered to watch the Bear while Jon and I joined Kellie and fiance Dikran in Chicago. I LOVE Chicago.

We joined up with a very eclectic bunch. This is the third time I did the all inclusive dinner/drink NYE and I really think it's the best way to go. The food was DELICIOUS at Quarantinos (sp?) and I sampled a whole array of drinks. That was the biggest difference from last NYE when I was pregnant and focused on eating not drinking. I'm still on the fence of a signature Laura drink. I have yet to find it.
Well I made it through the evening with only minor social gaffs. Something to work on for the next year: be less awkward. Please feel free to call me out if I in fact am awkward in front of you. I need to learn somehow :)
It was odd to be away from the Baby for an overnight, the first time! I survived only because I knew he was in good hands.

I now have only 15 days to complete the remainder of my 26 things to do list. The pressure is on to finish some of them and brainstorm what to put on my next list. Suggestions are welcome :)