decisions | The Angel Forever

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Letting part of my baby go

Posted on November 20, 2008 12:05 am by TheAngelForever

Way back in July hubby and I started to have a disagreement about something with JSL. Hubby wanted to get his hair cut and I was against it. I blogged about it and told him that perhaps after the summer I would consider it since his scalp would not be as vulnerable to the sun. The summer left and JL started to harass me about the hair cut again. Note to others, do not tick off the Mama! When I am pressured into something I will usually dig in my heels and stand my ground.

Back when JSL turned one I figured that we would likely be able to last another six months IF we were lucky. Of course, I am never going to admit that it really needed to be done.

Nope, not going to do it. I still loved the soft baby hair. It was so sweet to watch the little guy twist and play with his own hair as he soothed himself. That is something I actually still do to this day when my hair is partly down.

Against my better judgment, I finally agreed to get JSL’s first haircut Wednesday night. I cringed at the thought, but decided that I was getting sick of listening to JL and other family members that were getting way too vocal about it.

During the afternoon, JSL refused to nap. After we dropped big brother off to Nana and Papa’s house we went to the hair salon. Of course, on the way there JSL fell asleep. He was so exhausted we managed to get him out of the car and into the salon without him stirring.

When we walked in we were surprised to see our favorite stylist there. She had left to have a baby six months ago and decided to come back part time. We were thrilled! She told us to just try to take the little guy out and if he slept so be it. We managed to get his hat off successfully. Please note the major hat hair!

I almost managed to get his winter coat off, but he woke up. I sat down with him and he was so snuggly. I think he knew it would pull at my heart.

Right after this I became the photographer because JSL was crying for JL to hold him. This worked out nicely. The little guy was not thrilled about being up. He just snuggled on Daddy and eventually settled enough for K to cut his hair. These photos still seem so surreal to me, but I know it is reality.

Soon after this we were headed to pick up a wheat pizza and go back to Nana and Papa’s house. For some odd reason, JSL was not in the mood to eat and just wanted to curl up with people. Eventually he started to run around again and we captured a few shots of his new hair cut.

We left it a little bit longer so ~~Mommy would not cry as much~~ JSL can still run his little fingers through it. He seems a little confused since he has to move his hands up higher to find it. Of course, I know that I will likely cry soon. Tonight after his tub his hair was not behaving and was standing up. I growled at hubby and told him it was HIS fault!

Categories:
decisions jsl milestone NaBloPoMo photos vent

Ponderings of a PTA Parent

Posted on November 13, 2008 9:08 am by TheAngelForever

It is official, I finally went to my first PTA meeting last night. Something came up in September and the second one was the evening that Yom Kippur started, so I did not attend those.The boys all stayed at home and I set off on my adventure ALONE. Imagine that . . . I actually managed to break away from all three of the boys!

I am not too sure what I was expecting, but it was different. Not different bad, just different. The meeting was very casual and there were about 15 parents there, one teacher and the principal. I suppose this is the beauty of a small school in a very large district. Still I felt like an outsider. I think participating more and going to meetings will help with that, yet I am not entirely sure if I want to.

After just over a year of being a stay at home mom I found that something is missing, my identity. I seem to have become NHL and JSL’s mommy. Everyone at NHL’s school calls me "NHL’s Mom" – not my name. His teacher calls me Mrs. AngelForever, rather than my first name. Sure that is technically my name, but I think of it as more of my mother-in-law. In the classroom when I was teaching I was fine with my students using it, but this is not in that setting. I love being a wife and mommy, but I also need to know who I am now that I am home and no longer teaching. I was always upset that I never stayed home with NHL when I was teaching, I missed so much that I will never get back. As hard as it is sometimes I am glad I am home with both of my boys to see them grow up.

My plan was to get a part time job to earn some extra money and get some contact with other people. The trouble is timing. By the time JL gets home from work it is pretty late. In addition to this we had to factor the time gone, money earned, and gas purchased to get to a location. In most cases it was not worth the effort and lack of family time in the evening. I would love to tutor kids in science, reading or anything else, but that is a hard area to break into.

Blogging is great, but I need actual contact with real people before possibly going to Blogher 2009 in Chicago next summer. What I think I want to do is at least get involved in an organization to volunteer and socalize with other people locally. There is something that I have in mind. It happens to be a cancer service organization that I remember my mother always being active in while growing up. Perhaps I can get her to go with me again and another friend who has relatives involved. Maybe putting this out there will actually make me move and do something.

Hopefully my need for a complete bathroom rehaul and the state of the economy will not dash the dream to attend my first BlogHer conference.

Categories:
decisions me moments my boys NaBloPoMo sahm travel vent

VOTE today!

Posted on November 4, 2008 9:55 am by TheAngelForever

Assuming you have not sent in an absentee ballot or voted early in your state, PLEASE be sure to go and vote today. This is a crucial election and every voice needs to be heard. I have been very quiet about politics on my blog. I will never tell you who to vote for, just to be sure to vote in general.

With that said I have now officially done my part and went with both of my boys to vote this morning. The lines here were steady at 8:20, but not too bad. Do not let lines scare you away. Budget time and try to go at more off hours.

Now I can sit back and wait to watch how things turn out this evening. Plus it will be interesting to watch things unfold over the next few months as new President and his group transition over . . . whichever candidate it shall be.

Again, please do the right thing and VOTE today!

Categories:
decisions NaBloPoMo real world news

A few of my favorite things

Posted on November 1, 2008 8:23 pm by TheAngelForever

Today is the first day of the 15 Days of Marketing by Jessica Knows. When I read about what Jessica was planning on her blog I had to jump in. She is an amazing wealth of information and I knew I would learn a lot from her.

For homework today Jessica asked each of us participating to list what our three favorite brands are and why.

Think, think, think. . . . can you smell my brain about to catch on fire? Seriously, who knew that this could be so hard to do. There are so many brands that I like. Some I like as a woman, mother, wife, baker, teacher, human – and each for different reasons!

In the end I decided on these three brands:

Scholastic – As a mother and teacher Scholastic is a company you can trust. They have top notch books for kids of all ages. In addition to this, they have amazing resources for teachers, parents and students alike. Their website, magazine, and books have a wealth of information. Almost anyone you ask will recall looking at the Scholastic catalogs that would be sent home from school as a child. I still smile and get excited when they come home with my kindergarten kid.

Hanes – Years ago when you thought of Hanes you would only visualize underwear. These days Hanes has their underwear for the entire family, sweats, and other active wear. With two little boys I need items that will stand up to their active lives and Hanes does just that. I know when I buy something for my oldest son it will last to hand down to my little guy.

Nintendo – I still remember saving up my money for my original NES system. From there my family purchased one of the old style Game Boys and then Super Nintendo. When my husband and I were married we thought about buying a gaming system. We always knew it would be a Nintendo brand. After we had our second child I decided to surprise my husband with a Nintendo Wii. Even our non-gaming friends are in love with what Nintendo has done with this system. It is interactive, makes you move, think and get involved with the game you are playing. In addition to this I recently won a DS system and love the portability and versatility. Nintendo still continues to show they are on top of the gaming industry.I am looking forward to getting to know our Wii.

So those are three of my favorite brands. Now I feel so much like Oprah, only I do not have an audience full of people that will be receiving these items. . . not yet at least!

Categories:
decisions NaBloPoMo shopping Web business

Days of fun for next summer

Posted on September 29, 2008 9:00 am by TheAngelForever

Have you ever done something out of the blue that just shocks you? Last Saturday JL and I did.

While at Six Flags an old friend was there and happens to work at the park. She mentioned that we may want to look into upgrading our day passes. She said that they were running a special where you could upgrade your pass from the day to a Season Pass for the 2009 season, as well as the rest of this fall. The price for this — only $40 a ticket.

I know $40 sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t when you consider that a day pass for this year was $41 alone! Mind you we were able to snag an online sale for our post-Labor Day tickets for $25 each (not bad for 6 1/2 hours of fun). Still if we go more than one time from May to September of next year the passes pay for themselves.

The really nice part, our season passes are good at all of the following parks (15 in all):

(1) La Ronde, Montreal, (2) Six Flags America, Baltimore/Washington DC, (3) Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Vallejo (does not include Waterworld), (4) Six Flags Fiesta Texas, San Antonio, (5) Six Flags Great Adventure, New Jersey, (6) Six Flags Great America, Chicago, (7) Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, Louisville, (8) Six Flags Magic Mountain, Los Angeles, (9) Six Flags Mexico, Mexico City, (10) Six Flags New England, Springfield, MA, (11) Six Flags Over Georgia, Atlanta, (12) Six Flags Over Texas, Arlington, between Dallas and Ft. Worth, (13) Six Flags St. Louis, (14) Six Flags Wild Safari, New Jersey, and (15) The Great Escape, Lake George, NY

In addition to this, we also receive five free guest tickets to use on certain days and a coupon book to save within the park. Not too shabby if you ask me. So now we can think about going on trips to some other Six Flags parks close by to us next summer. The possibilities are quite nice actually.

So next year we can look forward to more memories at the park.