I cannot believe I've been keeping this journal for five years this month. Five years! This time five years ago we'd just moved back to Georgia and were living in an apartment. We had Murphy and Scout. I was unemployed and we were beyond broke and in financial trouble. I never dreamed I'd be where I am today. I've been at the same job for nearly ( Read more... )

January was an odd month. We got back to work from the holidays and then promptly had another week off for snow days. Georgia cannot handle snow. Which is fine by me -- I don't want to live anywhere that has to deal with snow so much that they learn to handle it. Ha ( Read more... )

My overarching theme for my New Year's Resolutions is to Take Care of My Business, whether it be my finances, my health, my LIFE. I feel like I'm just plodding through each day without truly enjoying it. I feel sluggish, very overweight, and very uninspired with anything that isn't related to Helen. I am also the world's worst procrastinator. This ( Read more... )

I think I'm more ready for this Christmas than I've ever been. I keep deleting the sales e-mails from retailers before I even look at them. I'm out of money -- no more presents can be bought ( Read more... )

Thanksgiving week we took a trip to see family in Virginia. We rode with my parents. It wasn't too bad, but by the end of it I knew this would be my mom's last trip, until there's a funeral. It's so awful, I could cry. She can barely move, she's winded all the time and wheezing, and of course she let Granny put her in a miserable, negative mood ( Read more... )

We're going camping tomorrow but when darkness falls Helen and I will driving to our friend Robin's house which is six miles from the campsite. I just worry it'll be too cold for Helen. She won't sleep anywhere but her crib or pack n' play right now, so it's not like she'll snuggle with us to keep warm. So we'll enjoy being outdoors all day and ( Read more... )

I'm kind of in a lousy mood this week so I need to force myself to think of more things I'm thankful for ( Read more... )

I usually attempt to post something every day in the month of November. It's always kind of fun to go back and read past years' November entries because I end up writing a lot of mundane, daily things, which, I have found, always seem to be my favorite kind of entry when I look back years later. The angsty or naval-gazing stuff I write is never as ( Read more... )

I had one of those days yesterday that made me question whether I'm a good enough mom. Exhaustion! Helen has been waking up at least once every night for a week, just sobbing (it was more often when her cold was in full force -- Saturday night we pulled an all-nighter together). One of us has to go in and soothe her and then she'll go back down ( Read more... )

Helen went to her daycare for the first time yesterday. She did fabulously -- never looked back, had a great time playing with the other kids, followed along with the group, even shared sometimes. I was especially worried about that last bit, the sharing. She's an only child who's never been to daycare or a playgroup. Why would she share anything? ( Read more... )