Annual resolutions

Here it goes again... the review of last year's resolutions and my list for the coming year.  I actually did pretty well this year.  I made friends, I took much better pictures, I am working on my 5th art project, and we went on quite a few fun trips.  As for the "enjoy cooking more" one and the "exercise" one, well, I should have known that with a newborn those weren't going to happen.  Not that I totally failed on them; I had some good spurts of exercising and cooking, but I'm still not consistent with either.

And this year, instead of having resolutions per se, I want to give myself gifts.  (Yes, I know what you're thinking.  I'm not making a resolution to spend more money on myself or anything like that.  Although, that's not a bad idea.  It would at least be a resolution I could keep.)  We always make resolutions and feel guilty when we don't keep them.  Well, I'm rephrasing in more of a positive way, so that I won't feel guilty if I don't keep them, and I don't have to view them as some kind of list I need to check off.
1. The gift of sleep (for me, and for my kids).  Violet is, and has always been, a terrible sleeper. She is so difficult to put to sleep that bedtime usually lasts about an hour (and that's after I put her in her bed).  It's not healthy, people.  I've decided that this has to stop.  I'm going to be stricter on bedtimes, I will avoid having her fall asleep in the car before bed at all costs, and I'm going to be home for Charlie's afternoon nap.  I'm also planning on going the entire year without having a newborn to take care of (imagine that!) so I might as well take advantage of all that sleep I'm going to get.  I don't care how, but in 2013, my kids are going to sleep!
2. The gift of a clean house.  I've been way too leanient with Violet and Charlie when they play with things they shouldn't play with.  It's hard for me to set limits because we don't have many toys, our house is really small, and we have no backyard, so I feel terrible telling them that they can't pull the pillows off the couch or take the ribbons out of my sewing stash.  But like the bedtime drama, it has to stop.  They got a ton of toys for Christmas so there is no reason for them to play with all of my things.  Not being a pushover is going to be AWESOME.
3. The gift of a well-fed family. Somehow, I always think I'm buying enough food for the week but every Sunday we always end up starving because there is NO FOOD in the house.  I'm going to fix that.  This is the year to fatten up my husband.
4. The gift of not trying to please people.  Enough said; this one's going to be great.

Top 10 highlights of 2012 (in no particular order)

1. Having Charlie join our family.  I know he was born in 2011, but it was very close to the end of the year so I consider this year his first year.  I couldn't have asked for a better baby, and it has been more fun than I ever imagined.
2. Finding an apartment with a garage that doesn't flood all the time.  This place has been perfect for our family.
3. Getting put up in posh corporate housing over the summer with a giant pool and splash pad.
4. Attending my sister's wedding in April and getting to hang out with all the family that came-- I really believe that was the best week of Violet's little life!
5. Visiting Utah and Idaho in October and going to Brandon's aunt's wedding, and getting to hang out with his family all week.
6. Taking a family trip to Sea World and Enchanted rock in May, and adding "astrophotography" to our list of hobbies.
7. Brandon accepting an internship offer which allows him to be part of a carbonate research team, which is what he specializes in at school.
8. Taking a vacation WITHOUT THE KIDS to Belize, which was one of the most amazing adventures of my life!
9. Brandon passing his thesis proposal defense, and knowing he is that much closer to finishing school.
10. Realizing that although I am excited for Brandon to finish school, we have had such a good year with our family and friends that I am in no rush for him to do so!

Bridals

I have been taking a lot of pictures for people lately. I don't usually post them because I'm not a professional and I don't want it to seem like I'm advertising myself, but this weekend I got to do some bridals for my sister and I wanted to share. They're probably the only bridals I'll ever end up doing and I really like how they turned out, not to mention I get to brag about how pretty my sister is.

One whole year

Charlie's birthday was on Wednesday!  This big boy had quite a fun day.  I was going to make homemade carrot cupcakes for everyone but I decided to be lazy instead had a bunch of things come up, so that didn't happen. My mom came out in the afternoon and we had a perfect late lunch/dinner at Bernie's Burger Bus, which is probably the most famous food truck in Houston.  Charlie had a great time opening his presents, well, actually having Violet open them for him.  But he loved them anyways.  I had decided that he needed some "boy toys" since everything we have is covered in pink glitter.  I never bought him different toys because I always assumed that the only reason different genders played with different toys was because of social pressure.  I was wrong-- Charlie really has a clear preference for cars and trucks, so that's what he got.

 Since I didn't get around to making cupcakes, I picked some up at 3 Brothers Bakery-- it's a local place which Houstonians LOVE.  Unfortunately, I was not impressed with them and after the kids licked the frosting off, I threw them away.  At least Charlie got his own birthday cupcake to destroy.

 Violet was also thrilled with Charlie's toys (that shows how infrequently I buy them toys) and both kids stayed entertained for over an hour with the new stuff.  Success!

We love you, little Charlie!  I couldn't imagine our family without you.

My babies, all growing up

Charlie turns one this week.  Am I the only one who has trouble believing that?  But even though I am amazed at how much he has grown in the last year (and I will post about that in a couple of days), I have also been thinking a lot about how much Violet has grown since then.

I had always planned to space my kids about 2 years apart.  Closer than that I considered crazy, but 2 years seemed comfortable for me.  That's about how far my siblings are spaced, and Brandon and I agreed before we had kids (haha, we thought we knew about kids before we had them) that it was good to have them closer together so they wouldn't get too comfortable being the only or youngest child and have a hard transition when the baby came.  So Violet and Charlie are 2 years and 2 months apart, and the only reason for the extra 2 months is that I wanted to space out the birthdays.  Yes, I'm fickle like that.


But I've been looking at pictures of Charlie's birth and instead of thinking, "Wow, he was so tiny!" I think, "Oh my gosh, Violet was a baby!  How on earth did I have kids this close together?"  And while I really did love having the kids that close together, in retrospect, I think I was a little crazy.  Violet was barely talking.  She was still in diapers for almost a year after he was born.  She had no idea about basic newborn safety.  And most of all, she gave up napping right after he was born. When I look back I think, what possessed me to think this was a good idea?

Then I see them together and I think, Nevermind.  This was a great idea.

 

Just being cute

Nothing exciting is going on right now, but I thought I would post some pictures I took at Hermann park last week.  I went there just to look around and see how the lighting was, and I was pleasantly surprised.

 And this last one is a cool abstract one that Brandon took of one of our ornaments.  I love it!