I came. I saw. I conquered.

What, exactly, did I conquer?  Something unexpected. I’m not giving it away yet.

My best friend, L,  is going through an extremely tough time in her life right now and our close knit group of friends is “on call” to be there when she needs some support. Last night she decided that the necessary support was going to come in the form of line dancing at a western bar. Okay, fine. Not really my cup of tea but for L I decided I would suck it up and roll with the punches.  After paying my cover I walked through the entry doors into a haze of country music and western swagger.  I found my friends on the outer edges of the dance floor after working hard to dodge the dancers, narrowly missing becoming the line dance ping pong ball. Once I made it to the safety of my beer drinkin’ friends we talked, we laughed, we took part in some serious line-dance- people-watching and then…the music changed. The dance floor cleared.  Various couples took to the floor and proceeded to dance a vigorous two-step (a moniker I learned later.) I had my back to the dance floor at this point and did not see the approach of a kind looking, VERY sweaty country gentleman.

“Would any of you ladies like to dance?” Not one but numerous beads of sweat worked their way down his face.

“Katie would!” L pushed me forward. Ha ha ha. I don’t know if they expected me to balk at the suggestion but with a shrug of my shoulders I stepped with Mr. Sweaty McSweaterson onto the dance floor.

“This is a country two-step,” he explained as he placed my hand in his, “Are you ready?”

“I have no idea what I’m doing.” I smiled as I placed my other hand on his shoulder. After the speedy instructions of quick quick quick, step, step, we were off!  He whirled me around the floor and as soon as I found steady feet and the rhythm of the steps TWIRL! He grabbed one hand and with the other spun me in directions I didn’t know I could spin.  We laughed and he led and spun and sweated profusely. At one point he even did an interesting move I can only describe as the worm…but vertical, my eyes grew wide with surprise and I could hear my friends burst into gales of laughter from across the room and I just kept dancing.  When the song finally ended I thanked Captain SweatyMan for the dance.  He was very sweet and I ended up having a ton of fun.  As I sauntered up to my friends they decided that I was not, in fact, a novice as I claimed but a Coloradan Line Dancing Fool.  What can I say, I guess it’s (somewhere) in my blood.

I expected that my turn on the dance floor would be my only test of confidence for the evening but I was sorely mistaken.  Up next? Karaoke.  I have been to a karaoke bar once before and did not participate. I informed my friends that I was happy to go but would choose ON MY OWN if I wanted to sing.  ‘Oh of course! We would never do that to you! It is a personal decision!’

What do YOU think happened when I returned from a trip to the bathroom?

“OKAY! NEXT UP TO THE MIC – KATIE!” It must be a different Katie. Nope. They signed me up.  Did I defer? I wanted to. Up to the stage I trudged…with my wonderful friend L by my side. What song was I to sing? HYPNOTIZE by Biggie Smalls!!!!  I know a lot of rap songs but my knowledge of this one in particular is…uh, intermittent at best.

Well, I did it. I conquered two-stepping and karaoke rapping. I stepped outside myself and it was worth every moment of sweaty strangers and dive karaoke bars.

And I had so much fun I want to do it all again.

I am in love with music. I have music on all the time…as often as I can anyway. For a long time I have been the boss when it comes to music in our family (sorry Bruce, I’m not trying to steal your moniker.) But times they are a changin’.

Addison has decided that SHE is in charge of our listening pleasure.  If a song comes on that she doesn’t approve she RELENTLESSLY tells us to change the song and more often than not has a replacement song in mind.

At first I thought she was just developing into a little Bossy Pants, but as it turns out, she just has more personality than can fit in her tiny two year old body.  And I intend to let her express herself at every opportunity.  The way I see it, the more comfortable and supported she feels as she is developing her personality, the easier it will be for her to maintain that confidence throughout her life.

Here’s my little DJ’s playlist:

1. Burn Burn Fire song (Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash)

2. Party Song (Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus)

3. Nigh’ Night Song (I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas)

4. Tinkle (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by Lisa Loeb)

5. Boom Song (I’m gonna be honest, I CANNOT figure out what this one is, but I just put it on another favorite and she is happy.)

6. Babba Ann (Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys

7. Jung Woom (Jungle Room by The Imagination Movers)

8. Girl Song (6 Underground by the SneakerPimps)

9. Wound Bus (Wheels on the Bus by a bunch of irritating kids)

10. Tummy Song (Big Poppa by Notorious BIG … don’t worry, this one has been cut from the rotation since I realized how much she absorbs from music)

I could go on, but that should give you a glimpse into the musical musings of Addison Claire.  I can’t wait till she figures out that I paint for a living…I’m sure that expression of personality will get messy.  But I’ll support every last drop of paint that she splatters!

Well, fast forward to the present.  Addie has finally reached the age that she wants to pick out her own clothes.  I usually give her two options from which to choose, any more and all I get is a wide-eyed, “uuuuhhhhhh…” But a couple of days ago I handed over the sartorial reigns. She took them and ran.

Here is a sampling of the supreme cuteness that is my daughter when mommy gets to dress her.  Here she’s walking through the Animal Kingdom at Disneyworld with her Daddy and Aunt Brookey.

Check out her masterpiece below. I think I’m in for it with this kid.

Pink fleece pajama pants, turtleneck, Cubs shirt (she calls it her team shirt), six headbands and a Cars belt that I had just made for her.  Oh, and her comb that she uses as a harmonica.

Is being weird genetic? If so, she definitely takes after me.

What is your favorite store? I have numerous favorites, all for different reasons.  JCrew is my staple…I could build my entire wardrobe in JCrew alone.  But I love Forever 21 for trendy pieces that I don’t want to spend a ton of money on only to have it go out of style in two weeks, H&M is awesome for basics for great prices and my department store of choice is Nordstrom. 100%.  Man I love that store.

But my neighborhood – unique find – make me feel like a million bucks – store?  Hot Mama.  I live about five minutes from the Naperville location and it is one of my favorite places in the entire world.  When I walk through those doors I KNOW that Carrie is going to be there with a sweet smile and a hello.  She’ll introduce me to whoever is working that day (most likely only if they are new, because if they’ve been there more than two weeks, we’ve met already) I’ll start to pick things out and once I have three hangers in my hand someone will start a room for me…and BOY will they start a room for me!  Carrie will go through the whole store and fill my dressing room with things that she thinks I’ll like and things that she knows I would never pick out but should try on.

I’ll stay for two, maybe three hours trying on everything in the store and joking around with Carrie and whoever else is working that day.  They’ll bring me something new, that just came in and they have yet to see on anyone and because I feel SO comfortable with them I try EVERYTHING on.  Some things look good, some look great and some things look absolutely awful on me…but everyone in that store makes me feel like I am beautiful and funny and perfect just the way I am.

And I appreciate that more than they will ever know.

Just the other day Chris, Addie and I stopped in the store on our way to lunch. Chris played with Addie at the train table while I tried things on.  We stayed for a half hour, maybe 45 minutes and when we walked out Chris looked at me and said, “Wow, they really like you. No wonder why you love to go there!”  I smiled. “Yep. They make me feel really good about myself. Its not just a store to me.”

Not only can I find great clothes, but I always walk out with a little more confidence as well.

For Valentine’s Day Chris and I decided we would take Addie to the “fishy zoo” – aka – Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium.  We wanted to do something special and a little different and she LOVED the Denver Aquarium so it seemed like a good idea.  All was well on the drive, we were a little worried about the timing of our day and how it would affect the Goose’s naptime but things seemed to be going our way.  On the road we texted Aunt Brookey (who lives in Wrigleyville – for all of you non-Chicagoans that is the area surrounding Wrigley Field in downtown Chicago) and she decided to take a cab and meet us at Shedd.  AWESOME.  Brooke is one of my favorite people and it made our special Valentine’s day trip even BETTER because she was going to be with us. And Addie adores her Aunt “book”.

So we drive past the Field Museum, Soldier Field, The Planetarium – all amazing architecture placed along the shoreline of a picturesque Lake Michigan.  There is no easily accessible parking so we valet. $25. Then we climb the 50 stone steps into the entrance hall of this absolutely incredible building that houses the aquarium.  The ceilings are breathtakingly high and all surfaces are covered in sea life reliefs.  So incredible. It’s worth it to go just to see the building!  The ticket line was short, maybe six or seven people deep and once we got our tickets (another $25 each) we were in and watching the fish and turtles and eels and starfish and sharks and anemones.

How many fish do you think Addie watched before she lost interest in all things aquatic?  About seven.

I can’t even blame her, after about five they all look about the same to me too!  But we looked in all the tanks as we waited for Aunt Brookey to get in..by that time the line had grown from 6 deep to out the door, down the stone steps, out to the street where it turned and continued down lakeshore.  Are fish REALLY that enticing?  I was shocked by the amount of people coursing through those halls!

After we checked out the penguins and the whales we found our way to the play area.  Normally, kids can put on a cute little penguin outfit and climb around on fake rocks and even slip down the penguin slide…but there was an insane number of kids packed into the play area. So we kept on walking and found the “touch and feel the sea life” area where we strapped her into a plastic apron and she was able to play with (fake) sand dollars and mollusks and star fish.

At this point we were all pretty exhausted and needed to eat but if you have ever been to an aquarium or a zoo or a museum then you know that the food isn’t exactly GOURMET.  So we washed and dried Addie and SOMEHOW convinced her that it was time to go without a giant meltdown – which was a miracle in itself seeing that she was already about 45 past naptime.  We pushed through the masses, found our way to the exit and found out we had to pay for valet by waiting. in. line.

At the end of the day we endured crazy crowds, endless fins and gils, were out about $100 and had a very cranky toddler when we were finally able to stop for lunch in Wrigleyville.  And you know what?

It was an awesome Valentine’s Day.

Happy Love Day to all of you out there! I hope your days are a little less expensive and crowded as ours was, but I hope it equaled the love and appreciation of family that I felt today.

Now go eat some candy hearts.

One would think that a post on a “mom-blog” with this title would be focused on discussing children’s activities – but alas, that is not the case on THIS mom’s blog.

What do YOU do to have fun? Do you do anything that is just for you and isn’t focused on your kids having fun?  I mean that as a genuine question, not as a “getting you to take a look at how you do things question.”  Chris and I have had to MAKE ourselves go outside our normal, everyday routine and do things for ourselves that don’t revolve around the Goose.  Luckily, we are surrounded by a group of friends that always have ideas and opportunities for us to do just that.  Last night, we played in a Dodgeball Tournament.  That’s right: Dodgeball. It was SO fun! Our team was one of the few that had a good mix of guys and girls and not all of us contributed very much to the outcome of the games, (ahem,your truly), but we all had a blast together.

I would love to say that I am the kind of person who jumps at every exciting, new opportunity.  I think I have always pretended to be that person.  But I’m not.  Chris and I have created an awesome life and we like to enjoy what we have built…but stepping outside our “everyday” was beneficial on so many levels:

• We let ourselves be Chris and Katie instead of Mommy and Daddy
• We got to laugh at (and tell) adult jokes with our adult friends…although a good portion of our time with our friends feels pretty adolescent sometimes, and thats a good thing!
• Dodgeball is fun.
• After spending time away from Addie Goose, even though it was only a few hours, I was really excited to be with her and play tea party and coloring and kitchen and cars….

So, I don’t know if you are the kind of person that jumps at new opportunities or if you’re like me and you have to be convinced…but regardless of the category you fall in TRY SOMETHING NEW!  Maybe its not dodgeball, but there are a million fun things out there to try your hand at.  Find one.

See you on the dodgeball court my friends.

Don’t go shopping for skinny jeans after two weeks straight of stuffing yourself with holiday treats.  Just a tip.  Not that I’ve done that before.  Like, this morning.

I love it when I reach the end of a day that was supposed to be stressful and difficult but ends up being smooth and pretty easy.  Not to mention eye-opening.  We added another flight to the tally for the goose yesterday.  It was a little different than our usual travel day: we had Christopher with us, we were flying a different airline and it was just a few days before Christmas.  I didn’t really know what to expect!  In a nutshell (which if you read my blog regularly, you know this is hard for me to fit ANYTHING in a nutshell) I thought flying on United was going to be a huge hassle, even though there were 64 people on stand-by for our flight we didn’t encounter a single problem and I gave up some “travel control” and let Chris help when I actually did need help.  That’s hard for me sometimes – I am the kind of person that wants to prove that I can do it all myself.

So the basics of “Operation: Travel Christmas” were just fine…but there were two VERY cool things that happened as well.

FIRST: We flew on a 777 (that is a huge plane with seating arrangement 2-5-2, meaning two seats, an aisle then five seats across the middle then another aisle and then two more seats) We were in the middle section: I was on the aisle, then Christopher and then Addison in the middle of the 5 seats.  I was a wreck thinking of all the bad things that could happen that would create problems for us: usually a carseat HAS to be in a window seat and I could picture us getting all set in our seats and then having a flight attendant tell us that we had to move, Addie was going to be seated next to a stranger who may or may not like kids and most likely didn’t want a two year old grabbing at him/her the entire 2 1/2 hour flight.

I was wrong…on all counts.  The flight attendants didn’t say a word about our seats (I still don’t understand that by the way, I’ve always been told it is FAA regulation to have a carseat in the window) AND, get ready because this is incredible…the woman who sat next to Addie played with her the ENTIRE FLIGHT!  And she loved it! Her name was Carol and she was so kind and sweet with Addie.  I am not going to guess at her age but she was a Grandmother to numerous kids and had recently become a Great-Grandmother (although she was quick to tell us that her “great-grandmother status” was achieved much earlier than anyone in the family thought it would happen courtesy of a teenage granddaughter.)  By the end of the flight Chris and I both told her how wonderful we thought she was and were both very thankful for her help and attention.

I saw her at the baggage claim with her husband who had been sitting elsewhere on the plane, so I approached them and told him that he was a lucky man to have Carol and that my husband, daughter and I had fallen in love with her on the flight.  She was beaming.  He loved hearing it, but wasn’t surprised and answered, “Oh, I KNOW how lucky I am.”

Next time someone does something kind for you, make sure you tell them how very much you appreciate it…most people don’t ever expect the compliment and it makes everyone involved feel better.

SECOND:  I am in awe of my husband.  Just when you think you’ve seen all the wonderful in someone he does something to prove that there’s even MORE wonderful in there.  I’ll make this quick because it’ll quickly become gushy.  Since you don’t know much about Christopher other than the fact he plays poker for a living, I’ll tell you that he is incredibly smart, to the point sometimes people don’t “get him.” He is a very rational, logical thinker (uh…poker player!) and in most situations values quick wit over “haha funny.”  He travels as much as we do (obviously) and has developed his own system and habits when it comes to being on a plane.  Now, to why he is wonderful, yesterday he chose to sit next to Addison, letting me sit on the aisle.  Not only did he take care of her the entire flight, but he chatted with the woman sitting next to Addie (we learned later that her name was Carol.)  Chris does not chat.  Especially not on a plane.  But he was kind and sweet and everything that I see everyday but the general public usually doesn’t.  Not only was I proud of Addie for being so well behaved on the plane, but I was incredibly proud of my husband for taking such good care of his family and the people around us!

What’s the point?  I guess the lesson I learned yesterday was that I get so caught up in my routine and the way I usually see things, that sometimes I need to be challenged. I need to be shown how different things are from my original perception and I need to give up some control and let people (especially Chris) help me more often.  I don’t think of myself as a controlling person, but every once in a while I need to open my eyes, admit that I try to have a hand in the way everything goes in my family and then I need to chill out.

Lesson learned.  Merry Christmas. Again.

I don’t know how you do Christmas when families are in different states, but we tend to just have multiple Christmases and celebrate with everyone.  We switch off Christmas on the 25th between Chris’ family and mine and then celebrate with the other family either early or late.  THIS year we are having four, yes you read that correctly – that’s not a typo – 4 (!) Christmas celebrations. First up is my family in Colorado, and we celebrated today, Saturday December 19th.  Next up is our “little” family Christmas in our apartment with just Chris, Addie and me when we fly back to Chicago.  THEN we drive to Stanley, Chris’ parent’s home town and have Christmas eve with his dad and his mom and then Christmas day with Chris’ mom and her mom.  THEN we have Christmas with Chris’ mom and sisters at his mom’s house when we get home from Stanley.

Whew.  Good thing I love Christmas, huh?

We have been working on telling Addison the stories about Santa Claus and the reindeer as well as the story of Advent and that Christmas is when baby Jesus was born (there will be another post about an awesome Overgard family tradition with advent calendars.)  and with every story I realize how confusing this must be for a two year old.  She’s super excited about Santa and whenever anyone asks her, or she sees a Santa somewhere, she is very happy to let everyone know that he says, “Ho Ho Ho” in her adorable little voice.  And ask her “What’s the baby’s name?” and she’s quick to respond, “Jeeeez.” So I know she’s listening…but my goodness, what a lot to remember!

This morning on our first Christmas morning of 2009, Addie woke up before the sun came up and so Chris brought her in our room for family cuddle time in hopes that she would fall back asleep for a little while.  After poking us in our faces for a little while she snuggled in and fell asleep.  She was deep enough asleep that she was making what my mom calls her “mewing” sounds in her sleep (a little ‘hmmm’ with every exhale) when she rolled over just slightly and her little tiny voice came from the pillows with a “ho……..ho………ho” and then she rolled back over and went to sleep.

It was so freakin adorable.

I’m interested to see how she reacts when she’s told that Santa is coming to our house too, as well as MoMo and PaPa’s.  And then do we tell her that Santa is coming AGAIN to NaNa’s house? What about Great Grandma’s and Grammy O’s?  I don’t know, at least she is just starting to get the idea and she LIKES it.  We’ll have to reassess how we deal with all the Christmas lore as she gets older and understands more.  Maybe Santa only comes once and the rest of the Christmases we just get presents from all the people we love and who love us.  What I know for sure is that every Christmas is SO important to me, and to Chris, and it doesn’t matter if its on the 25th or the 19th or the 27th…to me Christmas is about being with the people we love the most.  And we are incredibly blessed to be with them ALL.

And how could I complain about having Christmas four times a year?  I’d have to be nuts!

Good luck to you and your Holiday celebrations, I hope they go as smoothly as our Colorado Christmas did for us 🙂

I experienced two very new things today that I felt were blog worthy.  The first one is going to take a minute so the second will require its own post.  But the first one is REALLY fantastic.

Today, December 13, 2009 is the first day I have felt true parental pride in my daughter’s behavior!  Now, when I say that let me clarify that I have been proud of Addison and so many things about her countless times.  I am always proud that she is my child…but today I found that I was ridiculously proud of her actions and her decision making!  At two years old!

She had a super long day, especially for the day after a long travel day.  She woke up early (early for us, 6:30 am) and we went to breakfast with PaPa (my dad) at his country club.  They were having a children’s day so Addie got to see a big train display which was awesome because she is BIG into choo choo’s, she got snowman shaped pancakes, got to hit a golfball in the pro-shop with Addie-sized clubs AND as we were leaving she got to see Santa and Mrs. Claus (did you know Santa drives a bright yellow Jeep Wrangler?) From there we stopped by the church so MoMo (my mom) could show Addie off to her friends, then we stopped at the grocery store and then home to find Aunt Thayer, Uncle Craig and baby Jackson.  After playing with them for a little while she took a two hour nap (and I did too) then the WHOLE family piled into Craig’s suburban and drove to the factory outlets.

It was pretty chilly in Colorado today, a comfortable 48 in the late morning but it grew steadily colder as the day progressed and by the time we were shopping in Castle Rock it was coat/mitten/hat weather.  Addie and I had tights/leggings under our jeans it was so cold!  But that little Goose was SO good.  PaPa bought her new sunglasses and she wanted to wear them all day, and into the evening, so she was running around with a plaid jingle bell hat, pink flower shaped sunglasses, a red puffer jacket, pink gloves, sparkle jeans and pink boots on.  It was a sight to see.  And she was just happy as a clam the entire time, saying hi to everyone, making people laugh and just being a happy kid. After the factory outlets we went out to dinner and I was pretty worried that Addie would be spent and would never make it through a sit down dinner.  But shock me, she was fantastic!  AND SHE ATE A TON!   To top it all off, she was awesome on the drive home even sitting next to a crying Jackson, she just wanted to hold his hand and try to make it better.

I am absolutely, 100% SO proud of my little goose.  What an awesome kid.

This motherhood thing is incredible.