Feelin' the Love

My aunt pointed out today that I haven't been blogging much lately and by all of the new posts I have yet to read (of the blogs I'm following) I'd say she's right. Addie's asleep and Loren is at a concert, so what better time? Now just need to remember what all I have to say. :)

I'll start with today since it's the freshest. Addie and I headed out to my Grandma Dean's house this morning for a girl's day. My mom was there, as well as my Aunt Chris and cousin Lisa. We looked at pretty pictures of Alaska (Chris just got back from a cruise), ate a delicious lunch, learned how to can peaches and make macaroni salad, and gabbed, of course. It was a great time. I forget sometimes how much I love my family. We just always have a great time and don't have the drama and problems I hear about in so many other families. After that Addie and I headed to the park to meet up with Kyndell and Leisa. Kyndell's birthday party was last weekend, but we didn't make it because we were at a wedding, so we met up to give her her gift. Usually at a park, especially a new one, Addie is mostly stuck to me, or may wander just a bit. Not tonight. She took off for the playground and climbed to the top of the steps and went straight for the slide. I ran over to make sure was okay and she sat right down and went down the slide all by herself! And that was most of the evening. Up and down, up and down. Silly girl. Kyndell was right there with her, although her favorite was climbing back up the slide. I hadn't seen her forever -- of course she seems so much bigger! In fact, I think she outweighs Addie, although that's not hard to do. So Leisa and I chased the girls around and caught up a bit. I found out that Kyndell will be a big sister in about 8 months, which is exciting. Leisa and I may end up being pregnant together again!

Okay, now I'm going to backtrack to last weekend. Saturday Loren and I went to a wedding while Addie stayed with my mom. It was nice to have a bit of adult time. The wedding was gorgeous (it was at the botanical gardens) and then we headed up to the groom's parents for the reception. The bride and groom are really friends of Loren and Ryan -- I don't know them all that well. They're drinking buddies, and Loren has only really hung out with them in the last year or two -- when I was either pregnant or home with a newborn baby, so I haven't really been in a place to be drinking buddies with them. So I was very thankful that Ryan's girlfriend, Cassie was there. We were the antisocial recluses in the back corner. My kinda gal. That night Addie and I went over to Denise's for the BSU game and hung out with her, my dad, Sean and Erin, and Denise's dad. Addie had a good time playing with the dog and eating her dogfood. Sunday we had my family over (my dad and his girlfriend, Denise, my mom and stepdad, my brother and SIL, and Ryan was there for a bit) to celebrate our September birthdays (Erin, Sean, and Loren). We had pizza and some delicious cake (you can even ask Luke, since he snagged a huge chunk off the counter), opened presents, and chatted. Had a good time and Addie even bonded a bit with Uncle Sean. :)

Tomorrow I'm hoping to hit up the Hyde Park Street Fair with my buddy Jason and his daughter, Luna. Should be good times.

Hmm, what else. Work is crazy right now. I just have so many things going on. Along with teaching 2 classes, I'm also working with a coworker to write a chapter in a book, working with faculty across campus on ICD-10 research (we're hopefully doing a cost analysis of implementation for rural facilities), helping with some plans to potentially develop a Master's certificate, working on an article about tips and tricks of online teaching, participating in a faculty mentoring program, serving on the policy development and review committee for the college, serving on the promotion and tenure committee for the department, serving on an ICD-10 education workgroup for our national association (AHIMA), working on an ICD-10 task force for our state association (IdHIMA), and serving on the board of directors for IdHIMA. I also still need to take my exam to become a certified trainer for ICD-10 (the thing I went to Vegas for), am supposed to be doing some training to become an exam writer for our certification exam (the RHIT), and need to finish my IRB training (I'm also serving on the university's Institutional Review Board which reviews research projects). This is along with the advising that I always do, which includes a letter of recommendation that needs to be written, and some program curriculum changes. Ugh! I'm worn out just trying to remember all of the things I'm working on!

I think people can really just be too hard on themselves, whether it's how they look or their house looks, or their ability as a mom. I feel like I've matured a lot in the last year and can easily see past those superficial so-called merits of worth. I think that our society focuses too much on the wrong things, and we've lost sight of what traits are of true value. I was thinking tonight about how I tend to compare myself to others, which I think we all do, and compare Addie to other babies. I really need to stop doing that. What value is there in constantly comparing ourselves, so we can focus on all of the things we don't like? Why can't we (this a very general "we", myself included) just realize we're all different and that's what's wonderful? If we were all the same it would be boring, and we'd want the exact opposite. If we were all tall, thin, gorgeous super models with the "perfect body", the ideal would turn into something completely different. And I hate that I compare Addie. I catch myself doing it and try to stop. I don't need to project that on her. I of course think she's perfect, but I don't need to compare her to other kids to decide that, because that just makes me try to find faults in other kids I'm around. It's something I'm trying to work on. That and less gossiping and negative comments about people and their actions. Eek, I'm starting to sound like a bit of a hag . . .

So in one of my last blogs I was kind of complaining about friends and how some people just almost take too much effort. Well tonight I am feelin' the love! :) I just really appreciate all the wonderful people in my life and couldn't ask for a better family or greater friends. We have our ups and downs, but there are always great times to remember and I know that I can always call on them when I need them. I also have some friends going through some hard times and I think they are just amazing women and they help to remind me that I am so fortunate and that I shouldn't take anything (or anyone) for granted. So to all of you who read this (because I don't think I have any random strangers that read my blog), I love you and appreciate you. :)